It’s always bothered me how little known in Australia are even some of the best New Zealand writers. When I was asked to write a trio of mini-reviews for Perth webzine The Starfish, it seemed the perfect opportunity to rave about New Zealand writers; maybe I’d even be introducing them to a Perth audience. So I chose three novels that I’d read recently, that I’d loved reading, and that were by some of my favourite contemporary New Zealand writers — Stephanie Johnson, Emily Perkins, and Sarah Quigley. You can read what I had to say about their novels — and a little about my own — in the Books section of The Starfish.
I have to add that, as soon as I saw their homepage, I couldn’t resist writing something for The Starfish. Their homepage features a great big photo of the pavilion at Cottesloe Beach, and that building (and that beach) are key settings in my novel, The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt. I’ll write about that — about the importance of setting, and in particular the importance of that setting for me and for my novel — in a blog post soon.
Update
I did an interview with Jacquie Lang from The Starfish in September 2013, when I talked about Cottesloe Beach and shared some family photos. Read it online at The Starfish