Sue McCauley QSM, is a novelist, short story writer, playwright, journalist, and screenwriter. Her first novel, Other Halves (1982), won the Wattie Book of the Year Award and the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction. It was reprinted numerous times, in New Zealand and overseas, and was made into a film. In subsequent years Sue wrote five more novels, two short story collections and a biography. She has also written drama for stage and TV and adapted her own novel for the film Other Halves. Sue’s first book was loosely based on the early — and unconventional — relationship between Sue and her husband, Pat.
Sue discusses her latest novel, Landed, and reflects on her writing life in conversation with Tessa Nicholson. Landed is a wry, pensive, character-driven novel that is a close examination of what matters most in life. It’s about reconciling familial obligation with a sense of purpose and relevance, it’s about the inevitability of growing old, the importance of connection, and the need to find ‘home’.
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Nici Wickes - A Quiet Kitchen
Nici Wickes was the Instagram foodie we all needed during lockdown - down to earth, great fun, and cooking up a storm with mostly pantry ingredients. Her gorgeous cookbooks A Quiet Kitchen and the just-released More from a Quiet Kitchen include many of those recipes along with her honest reflections on her struggle to find contentment in mid-age, how she finds happiness in living alone in a quiet coastal community, and where she draws inspiration from.
Most of her recipes serve one or two and serve to inspire those who also live alone, though many are easily scaled up if you have friends over. Nici says: “I want this book to be a cookbook but also a guide to becoming accomplished at living alone, healthily, joyfully, quietly, whilst still feeling engaged and connected to the world and staying open to the mystery of it all.”
Hear Nici talking with Tania Miller at the 2024 Marlborough Book Festival about her cookbooks, her mid-life sea change, and how choosing to eat well goes hand in hand with choosing to live well.
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Anna Smaill - Bird Life, A Novel
Anna Smaill in conversation with Jane Forrest Waghorn
Anna’s latest novel moves between reality and magical realism, as two women navigate intense personal loss in a wonderfully hyperrealist, slightly eerie, Tokyo. Dinah is a New Zealander, teaching English in Japan, grieving her twin brother who was a gifted, but troubled, musician. Yasuko, who has talked to the natural world since her teens, is grieving her adult son’s move to independence.
In this exquisitely written novel, Anna explores the feelings that come with losing a loved one and teases out the tension between our internal and external lives. Don’t miss hearing Anna in conversation with Jane Forrest Waghorn at the 2024 Marlborough Book Festival.
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Ron Crosby - Te Kooti’s Last Foray
Marlborough-based historian Ron Crosby has tramped the Urewera forests to retrace the steps of Te Kooti and his pursuers. That legwork deeply informs his latest book Te Kooti’s Last Foray. He discusses his findings and the adventures he had along the way.
Ron was in conversation with Pete Anderson at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival.
Marlborough-based Wine journalist Tessa Nicholson has interviewed industry players and been witness to challenges overcome and enterprise rewarded.
Speaking to journalist Mike White at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival, Tessa discusses her book Fifty Years, Fifty Stories, Marlborough the Region That Turned The Wine World Upside Down.
The Marlborough Book Festival is an annual readers and writers festival held in July in Marlborough, New Zealand. Listen to our podcasts to hear discussions with our featured writers, as they explain the challenges and the highlights of creating their various works and their lives as writers.
For more information, head to: https://www.marlboroughbookfest.co.nz/
New Zealand