Books+Publishing reviews The Hope Fault

The Hope Fault

Lou Heinrich reviewed The Hope Fault for Books+Publishing in February, ahead of the novel’s publication on 1 March 2017. [The Hope Fault] echoes the thoughtfulness of Jessie Cole’s Deeper Water, with its literary reflection on the geography of family, and the way domestic life can be invaded and divided. A gentle anxiety underlines the air of contentment, as Iris meditates on the mystery … Read more…

The Great Big Book Read, Fremantle

Great Big Book Read

I’m visiting Western Australia for 6 weeks in early 2017, and while I’m here I’ll be taking part in the first event that Fremantle Press is holding this year – their very first Great Big Book Read, at Clancy’s Fish Pub in Fremantle, on 1 February. The Great Big Book Read will celebrate five new books from Fremantle Press, all … Read more…

2016: my year in books

Syllabus

Like Jane Rawson this year, I decided a few years ago to try reading in private for a while, rather than publicly rating and/or reviewing books on Goodreads or other sites. And it’s been working for me, this curving of my arm around to hide the page as I read. In 2016, I kept track of … Read more…

Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive – a 2016 countdown

Let’s face it, 2016 has been a crap year for the world. And politically, 2017 scares the poop out of me (though let’s hope New Zealand seizes the opportunity later this year to #changethegovernment). But in writing terms, for me 2016 was a great year, and — with my new novel due out in a … Read more…

The Hope Fault – Notes, resources and references

Hope Fault close-up 2015 South Island Geology map, Unfolding the map exhibition

Like most writers, I’m a magpie, taking shiny things from the world around me and making them my own, absorbing and transforming them in my writing. So, in addition to the acknowledgements printed in the back of the book (reproduced at the bottom of this page), I wanted to acknowledge some of the sources, resources … Read more…

Exhibition: Art is a Living Thing, until 15 Jan

Art is a Living Thing

International Exhibition of 100 Artists in Masterton. New Zealand Pacific Studio, the international yet rural residency centre for artists located in the hills of Mount Bruce, Wairarapa, mounts the international exhibition Art Is a Living Thing, with work by 100 of its artists from 15 countries, and from each of the 15 years that the … Read more…

Performance: Art is a Living Thing – Saturday Afternoon Live

Saturday Afternoon Live

I’ll be reading from my short story ‘Once had me’ on Saturday 3 December at Saturday Afternoon Live, a performance as part of the opening weekend of New Zealand Pacific Studio’s exhibition Art is a Living Thing, which runs at Aratoi Museum from 3 December 2016 to 15 January 2017. There’ll be music, and a reading … Read more…

Publication day: Good Dog! anthology

Good Dog 2016

Today marks the publication of Good Dog! New Zealand Writers on Dogs, an anthology edited by Stephanie Johnson, and produced in glorious hardback by Vintage / Penguin Random House New Zealand. It includes writing — poetry, fiction, essays, old and new — from a cast of New Zealand writers, including Fiona Kidman, Charlotte Grimshaw, Tina … Read more…