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 thing about short stories is that there is nowhere to hide. A short story has to work hard, saying a lot by saying very little. Whether she is writing about or from the perspective of a little girl, a spurned lover, an ageing madam, or, astonishingly, a toroa (albatross), Beautrais nails an authentic voice each time. With a spiky confidence and knowing, mordant humour, Beautrais writes with a crushing and witty eye on humanity at its most troubled and askew.
We all agreed it’s a tightly wound and remarkably assured collection that sustains a vice-like grip from start to finish. These atmospheric short stories evoke a strong sense of quiet unease, a dark underbelly, slow burning rage as well as the absurdly comic. Scrutinising the female experience from a dazzling multitude of angles and voices, each story crackles with raw power and a bracing energy. Bug Week is a beautifully observed and fierce punch in the guts.
News from Ockham Book Awards
Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais has won the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her book
Bug Week – the first person to take out the category for a collection of short stories in more than a decade.
Beautrais is well-known as a poet, but this is her first book of fiction, published by Victoria University Press. She received the prize ahead of acclaimed novelists Catherine Chidgey and Pip Adam, both previous winners, and Brannavan Gnanalingam, shortlisted for the fiction prize in 2018.
The Fiction category’s convenor of judges, Kiran Dass, says
‘Knockout’ short story collection wins country’s richest writing prize Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais has won the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her book Bug Week – the first person .