The first session this morning with Geoff Dyer was very funny. I didn't know about him but North Shore Libraries does have some of
his books. He is a travel writer, a columnist and a novelist who makes his readers work hard. His titles are carefully chosen to give clues about the book's content; for example
Yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it and his latest
Jeff in Venice, death in Varanasi which is made up of two parts with no narrative links but containing little clues and pointers to enhance the reader's understanding of the story. He was intellectual and witty and chairperson Emily Perkins was his equal.
Kamila Shamsie, author of
Burnt shadows, is my choice for "best at the festival".
She has written four previous novels, collectively referred to as the Karachi novels, in which she explores the powerful legacies in the history of Pakistan; politics, war, love, family, food, flora, language, religion and gender.
Burnt shadows is an international novel, an epic narrative - a very readable one that spans 5 continents and 60 decades relating the experiences of one woman affected, indeed buffeted, by a series of historical events from Nagasaki in 1945 to 9/11 in 2001.
Kamila talked about her books and her life with Kate de Goldi for an hour that passed so quickly. She was engaging, articulate, perceptive and a worthy nominee for the Orange Prize.
Further impressions from Thursday
- Margot Lanagan shocked many in the audience
- Bill Manhire's poetry reading was moving
- Peter Singer got a full house and had many followers in his audience
- At 12 o'clock I was on Freyburg Beach in the hot sun but by 2 o'clock after the next session it was raining and my feet were cold: guess I'll remember the first two blue sky days!
Andrea Levy, author of the Orange prize-winning novel, Small Island is in New Zealand talking about her new book The Long Song. With articles in The Herald and interviews on the radio she is gaining lots of interest and rightly so. In conversation with Carole Beau at The Raye Freedman Centre, she explained the origins of the book and its links with her family. She was both funny and serious and a pleasure to listen to.She switched her Jamaican accent off and on to read from the new book in the voices of various characters. In fact, she has recorded the audiobook herself and I am seriously considering listening instead of reading this time.
American novelist Susanna Moore started her writing life with three books set in Hawaii that explore place, family and identity. She wrote the erotic thriller In the cut filmed by Jane Campion but read from her latest book The big girls a narrative about the aftermath of a brutal murder. Not my kind of read but I'd certainly like to find out about her early autobiographical novels.
The fiction finale brought together Neil Gaiman and Margot Lanagan with chairperson Kate de Goldi in a talkfest accompanied by thunderclaps, strong winds and drumming rain - yes, the southerly came through but Neil Gaiman kept a straight face and continued talking about sinsiter things in graveyards!
Xinran, author of The Good women of China and Sky Burial, described her childhood and working life in China and how she stored her experiences and insights in order to write her latest book Message from an unknown Chinese mother. This book tells the stories of Chinese mothers whose daughters have been wrenched from them, and also brings us the voices of some adoptive mothers from different parts of the world. These are stories which Xinran could not bring herself to tell previously - because they were too painful and close to home. She was in tears during the interview and so were members of the audience. 
