An essay written for The Pantograph Punch, exploring the copyright decisions you make every day, and tackling the difficult issues of digital entitlement, monetisation and worth.
Why I'm childfree
Book review: Frantumaglia - A Writer's Journey by Elena Ferrante
Ferrante’s new book about writing is a journey through the fragments of experience.
Two big things happened while I was reading this book: the US elections and the Kaikoura earthquakes. They bashed my reading sideways. Suddenly, everything – even an esoteric discussion about the nature of literature, translated from Italian – was about politics and disaster.
My History degree
Lecretia's Choice: A Story of Love, Death and the Law, by Matt Vickers
WORD: Work / Sex, with Kate Holden, Leigh Hopkinson, Jodi Sh. Doff and Julie Hill
Review of Work / Sex, with Kate Holden, Leigh Hopkinson, Jodi Sh. Doff and Julie Hill, from WORD Christchurch, 2016
If Ivan E. Coyote did one of the best things a literary festival can do – broke my heart and then put it back together again made better – this session did another: forced me to examine my own unconscious bias and realise I was wrong.
WORD: Ask a Mortician: Caitlin Doughty interviewed by Marcus Elliott
Review of Marcus Elliott's interview with mortician and author Caitlin Doughty at WORD Christchurch, 2016
Death is an odd thing to be chipper about. LA-based mortician, ‘death positive’ advocate and YouTube star Caitlin Doughty is definitely chipper, though: she has that extreme chirpiness that I’m going to assume is compulsory for anyone living in Los Angeles.
WORD: Speaking Out – Tara Moss interviewed by Joanna Norris
Review of Joanna Norris' interview with Tara Moss at WORD Christchurch 2016
At the 2050 session yesterday about climate chaos, panellists spoke about the danger of going from denial to despair. I was thinking about that a lot as I watched author and feminist activist Tara Moss give a presentation on sexism in the media, politics and society.
WORD: Reading Favourites, with David Hill, Jolisa Gracewood and Paula Morris
Orville: Ghost of Honour
As is only right and fitting, Orville has been invited to be the Ghost of Honour at LexiCon, NZ’s 38th national science fiction and fantasy convention. Here is the text of the short bio I have supplied for the con book:
“Orville: rat, film star, legend. In many ways, Orville’s is the classic rags-to-riches story. He survived a difficult kittenhood in the foster care system, eventually being adopted from the New Zealand Rat Rescue by a Wellington couple. He quickly adapted to a life of leisure and treats, but there was something missing.
And then, in early 2012, the call came: the call to greatness. Peter Jackson needed rats for The Hobbit films, and Orville was just the rat for the job. He never looked back. Orville took to the glamorous film-star lifestyle as though born to it, hobnobbing with agents, makeup artists and actors with grace and poise. He was pleased to receive fan mail from John Rhys-Davies, and condescended to appear in a short film documenting his fabulous career. He died in late 2013, the bright flame of his talent extinguished by old age.”
Fan mail for Orville the Movie-Star Rat from John Rhys-Davies. CC BY
Book review: Smoke, by Dan Vyleta
The Unravelling: Emma Sky at #AWF16
Strangely Human: Michel Faber at #AWF16
For me, literary festivals are a massive intellectual high. I like to pour myself into them and demand stimulation. They fizz me up; I start bouncing around, talking very quickly, and gesticulating as energetically as I can (given that I am usually holding a bag, a laptop, a coffee and several books). I arrived at the Strangely Human session in a state of high excitement, keen to hear Paula Morris interview Michel Faber. And then something happened.
The Diversity Debate: Victor Rodger, Marlon James & Stephanie Johnson at #AWF16
An Evening with Gloria Steinem at #AWF16
Elizabeth's guide to surviving literary festivals
STEP ONE
Literary festival programme is released. Get very excited. Go through programme highlighting events I want to attend. Realise is nearly entire programme. Try and shortlist.
STEP TWO
Realise some shortlisted events clash. Gnash teeth. Attempt to perform impossible calculus of scheduling: desire to see famous people, desire to support book industry colleagues, desire to learn something new, desire to follow a friend’s recommendation, desire to hear an author speak who lives in a country I’ve never been to, desire to lie at the feet of an author whose work I love.
The Kiwi-Aussie literary divide
The place of books on Radio NZ National
As part of The Read’s ongoing investigation into the place and value of book reviewing in Aotearoa (where this article originally appeared, on 23 April 2015), I wanted to explore the ways in which Radio New Zealand National contributes to and supports our book culture. As with print review media, discussion of books on radio can take the form of a feature, an author interview, or a review. To this list, radio adds a more performative element – books read aloud. I spoke to producers and presenters at Radio NZ, as well as booksellers around the country.
Bletchley Park, Gran, and Mac
Bletchley Park – and the stories of the women who worked there during World War Two – is of keen personal interest to me. My Gran, Irene, was one of those women. She took the Official Secrets Act very seriously, and never told me much about it. So I jumped at the chance to read Tessa Dunlop’s book The Bletchley Girls and learn more.
