Mountain Scene
By PHILIP CHANDLER
The author of the most talked-about book in New Zealand this year talks about her life and her work at a literary event in the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall on Wednesday night.
Celebrated Kiwi novelist Charlotte Grimshaw hit the headlines with her ‘‘explosive’’ memoir,
The Mirror Book, which critiques her father, literary lion C.K. Stead, who’s now 88.
After being traumatised by a marriage crisis, Grimshaw who grew up knowing NZ’s literary elite as regular visitors to her home realised her family background had been far
darker than what her father had painted.
The memoir tells of her parents’ hostility towards a daughter who was repeatedly accused of fantasising, stroppy me-too feminism, lacking humour and being ‘‘Charlotte-chaotic’’.
Thursday, 1 July 2021, 3:47 pm
‘It’s material, make a story out of it,’ was the
mantra Charlotte Grimshaw grew up with in her famous
literary family. But when her life was suddenly turned
upside-down, she needed to re-examine the reality of that
material. The more she delved into her memories, the more
the real characters in her life seemed to object. So what
was the truth of ‘a whole life lived in
fiction ?
The Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival
is very pleased to be bringing Charlotte to Dunedin next
month to talk about her memoir,
The Mirror Book (RHNZ
Vintage, 2021). Charlotte will be in conversation with
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
AUCKLAND
1 Helen Kelly: Her Life by Rebecca Macfie (Awa Press, $50)
From the publisher’s blurb: “Kell
What I m Reading: New author Rebecca K. Reilly
14 May, 2021 10:00 PM
2 minutes to read
Rebecca K. Reilly. Photo / Supplied
By: Rebecca K. Reilly Most of the reading I do comes about because I m desperate to be in the know about the latest literary trends and be a part of the conversation. However, because I hate owning things and never have any money anyway, my reading life takes place at the mercy of the sometimes wildly lengthy Auckland Libraries waitlists. I ve been waiting to read The Girl in the Mirror since October last year and I m still 141 in the queue. It s great to hear so many people are using the libraries - and also terrible for me, personally.