Pauline on Junot Diaz

A surprising theme that has emerged over the last couple of days is the number of authors who have had negative experiences from their fathers.  We have already mentioned the personal stories of Heather O’Neill and John Burnside, and tonight we heard from Junot Diaz a Dominican-American writer.  Junot moved to the US with his parents when he was 6, where they settled in New Jersey.  What his biographical notes don’t mention, but Guy Somerset, the chairperson of his session did, is that Junot’s father maintained a family in America when he moved there to work and raise money to support his family in the Dominican Republic.  “Yes, my father was a bigamist” Junot admitted, after a pause, when he added, “clearly I didn’t think we’d be talking about this”.  His father was “brutal and a perfectionist”, which lead Junot to make his own “hellish standards” for himself.   The influence of his father is possibly what is behind his belief that to be a successful writer ”requests that we become people”.  By this he means writers need to have a deep humanity to leave aside their prejudice, narrow-mindedness, and their baggage.  Junot descibes it as the need to “grow the f***-up”. 

 

On the subject of his fondness for the ”f-word”: Junot said his sister told him neither he nor his only novel, the Pulitzer Prize winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,  would ever be endorsed by Oprah.   1) he swears too much, 2) there’s too much swearing in his book, and 3) there’s anal sex in his book.   No, not the sort of book Oprah would go for.

 

When asked whether Pulitzer Prize winners can give up their day jobs, Junot replied you get US$10,000 of which $4,000 goes in taxes.  That leaves him $6,000 and as his mother reminded him, spread that over the 11 years it took to write the novel….

 

This session was a highlight for me.  Junot Diaz is a wonderful mix – intelligent, highly irreverant, self-effacing, humble, well-read in NZ authors and as a 13 year old obsessed about NZ and the movie The Edge of Darkness, honest (“I’m probably just too grumpy”), gentle, and a writer who admits he could survive without writing, but couldn’t survive without reading.  I hope it’s not another 11 years before his next novel comes out.

Books in ourLibrary by Junot Diaz

Philippa on day 2 (Friday)

Innocence and Experience

 

3 world class authors – all of whom have written beautifully crafted unexpected love stories this session this morning was a treat for me – and Chair Kate De Goldi did a fabulous job (3 cheers for Kate). Peter Wells read from “Lucky Bastard”, Peter Ho Davies from “”The Wesh Girl” and Laurence Fearnley from “Edwin + Matilda”.  Interesting discussion about what inspired these novels – for Fearnley it was place (she is inspired by South Island landscape and rural settings), for Ho Davies objects his Grandmother had treasured (what were in fact sculptured shellcases made by POW’s), and for Wells it was an untold history (he is spurred on he says, by what we don’t know cf a “write what you know” mentality).   Fearnley feels lonely when the book is written and her characters gone – Peter Wells recognises that, as for readers, characters become “part of the compost of your life”.

 

 

Michelle Legott

 

Another “show and tell session”, and for me one of the most moving of the festival so far.  At 51 Leggott, our current NZ Poet Laureate, is suffering from retinitis, which means she is losing her sight – in her words, she has a narrower tolerance to light…and it seems to me doubly tragic somehow that this is happening to a writer who clearly has always treated poems as physical objects – text as something to interpret and explore – valued the aesthetics of the written word on the page – and effectively writes as though painting with words. Currently teaching digital poetry at Auckland Uni, Leggott has moved on to a new format where poems can now literally dance around the screen.

Books by Michelle Leggott at our library

Pauline’s Friday report back:

Yesterday’s session started with an author, Heather O’Neill, using her unhappy childhood experiences as the basis for her novel.  Today’s first session was John Burnside talking about his memoir, A Lie About My Father, recounting his unhappy childhood and working through the issues he had with his father.  It was until his father had died, that John discovered his father was an abandoned child – literally left on a doorstep.  This could have explained the toughness his father showed towards him– boys had to be made tough.  For men of his father’s generation cruelty was an ideology.  The finer and therefore ‘weaker’ activities such as reading and music has to be killed off. John told of his favourite teddy bear being thrown in the fire because it had been left on the floor – “you’re too big for a teddy” he was told.  He was 6.  I loved the raw emotion of this session, though both Philippa and Anthony thought that with 8 collections of poetry published they would have liked to have heard a poem or two.

Books in our library by John Burnside

10 Things Rebecca Learnt Today

 

1.     Pauline, Genny and Philippa have matching purple suitcases.  Anthony and I do not.

2.     Never read bad poetry in a Montreal bar.  Unless you want a beer bottle thrown at you.  Heather O’Neill said it did make her learn quickly.

3.     Shonagh Koea doesn’t like jam but she does like marmalade.  Her story about marmalade was the first of her food themed stories which became the book “Kindness of Strangers : Kitchen Memoirs”

4.     I really do judge books by their covers.   Iain Sharpe’s “Real Gold : Treasures of the Auckland City Libraries” caught my attention as soon as it came out with it’s lovely but surprising apples on the cover (The reasoning behind the apples was discussed but not explained).  While I was aware of Linda Tyler’s “Ka Taoka Hakena: Treasures from the Hocken Collections”, the dull grey building on the cover did not entice me to give any time.  At the Taonga in Tikiland session however it was Tyler who had the juicier, fruitier stories, while Sharpe’s were a bit dull. 

5.     Roger Hall is a New Zealand ambassador to UNICEF.  He is donating all the proceeds of book sales for the weekend to the organisation.

6.     Nicole Kidman owns a Colin McCahon painting.

7.     Peter Simpson likes numbers.  His book “Colin McCahon: The Titirangi Years 1953 – 59” is great for McCahon fanatics but I found it a bit heavy on numbers – dates, measurements, average annual painting output etc.

8.     What it takes to be a great columnist.  In no particular order, I according to columnists  Steve Braunias, Tapu Misa and James Griffin:

·         Respect for deadlines

·         Endurance

·         Self belief

·         A distinctive voice

·         And being interested in stuff – anything and everything so that you have something to say

9.     My current activity makes me part of a “confederacy of idiots called the blogosphere”, according to the cheeky bastard Braunius.  He also gave a tip to never read your own writing – “it’s an exercise in self loathing”. 

10. Junot Diaz has one of the most pleasant American accents that I have heard.  I am looking forward to hearing him again tomorrow night.  

 

Genny’s thoughts

710pm

Here I am sitting in a slightly shabby kebab place grabbing a quick bite to eat before the final session at 8pm.

Wow what a day it’s been, more or less 71/2 hours of back to back talent.

My top highlight so far is Shonagh Koea talking with Peter Wells about her book Kindness of Strangers: Kitchen memoirs. The connection between Shonagh and Peter was warm and relaxed making for a seamless discussion. Peter described Shonagh’s writing “as like a prism with the colours coming out of it” He suggested it has the power of fairytale and a quality like walking through an enchanted forest.

Shonagh and Peter were just lovely, where did the hour go, I could have listened much longer. Have made a note to myself to read chapter from the book called “Dr Walker and the chocolate cakes”

My second (very close) Highlight was Heather O’Neil talking about her debut novel “Lullabies for little criminals” a book taking inspiration from her own troubled childhood and experiences growing up in Montreal. She was absolutely delightful and totally open and frank about her life.

Both Shonagh and Heather have experienced difficulties but they have such a positive attitude to life. Heather “went through life always saying she was going to have a good life and do what other people do” Peter Wells said Shonagh knew “how to live life well, how to live life on this globe”

Also a treat for me was an hour with the famous playwright Roger Hall with Fiona Samuel, they were just great. It is wonderful to see Dramatists, television writers, songwriters, columnists, scriptwriters at such an important literary festival.

10pm

Have just got back from the final session of the day the New Zealand Listener Opening Night with J.M Coetzee, Sarah Hall, Junot Diaz and Witi Ihimaera. I need to add a new highlight. All four read from their work and were stunning. But for me the star was Witi Ihimaera. Hearing and seeing him read was such a powerful experience and moved me to tears. The atmosphere in the auditorium was electric.

Well must go and read “Dr Walker and the Chocolate cakes”

Philippa on Day One

We started with a “biggie” – the Canadian writer Heather O’Neill.  Not a great session for numbers (what do Aucklanders’ do on a Thursday morning for goodness sake??????) but the content didn’t disappoint. A young and streetwise Heather says she always loved poetic novels about brutal childhoods. Well, in Lullabies for Little Criminals she has certainly delivered! The novel draws heavily on her own background – her mother deserted her when she was 8yrs old and she and her 2 young sisters were sent to live with their criminal, drug addicted, violent father.  Heather describes her father as a “character” and “pure gold” for fiction writing.  Growing up in Montreal’s red light district, she was happiest on the streets….it was, she declared “better than being in the house”. It was a world where children hung out with “lowlifes”, acting like adults, and where adults were living out childhoods.  Now as a mother of a 13 yr old daughter, Heather can see how wrong her childhood was – how a total lack of parenting, while liberating (it wasn’t all black) anything can happen – you are very vulnerable. Despite the odds, O’Neill has escaped impossible odds to escape what would seem an inescapable predetermined future.  How? She says, by an enormous leap of the imagination.  Inspiring stuff.  Read the book!

 

My other highlight was a session chaired by Peter Wells (he is the BEST Chairperson ever) featuring Shonagh Koea.  Shonagh describes her book “The Kindness of Strangers” as “an odd book”.  She wrote it how she talks, and is still, she says, amazed that it is considered interesting.  It came about as a series of “hops” – like a frog.  She wrote a piece on Marmalade, the publisher loved it (surprise surprise), and so she moved on to the next piece, until the book was written..  Self described as a cheerful pragmatic creature Shonagh has undoubtedly had a tough life, and admits that she had terrible nightmares after having written about things in her past.  Peter Wells describes Koea’s work as a “prism”, and on reading the first paragraph he was “struck with the severity of its honesty”.  She was charming (so was Peter xx) 
 

Taonga in Tikiland

 

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins chaired this visually rich session. As members of the public it seems apparent to us that in both libraries and museums, collections are often hidden from view, and are revealed only in small ways when exhibitions are on.  Linda Tyler, formerly from the Hocken Library, and Iain Sharp from Auckland Library have both written books that attempt to “get objects out there”. The talk showcased some of Hocken’s treasures, and that of Sir George Grey. Two memorable moments here were the image of John A Lee’s scrapbook – held together entirely with pink elastoplast, and the insight from Tyler that Hocken worked in close partnership with his wife, Betty Hocken (talented linguist, photographer and artist), without whom, the collection would not have been nearly so substantial.

Pauline’s Comments on Day One:

The definite highlight for me was the session I almost didn’t go to. I had to decide between “History and the Novel” and a session called “Adventures with a Wobbly Shopping Trolley”.  Having had enough of history and the novel in a poorly run session called “Bloodlines” (poor sound and a poor chairperson), I did a last minute change of plans, and discovered a highly entertaining group of 3 columnists – Steve Braunias (Listener, Sunday Star Times), Tapu Misa (who I haven’t come across before), and James Griffin (of NZ script writing fame, Outrageous Fortunes).  They shared their stories of taking risks, avoiding law suits, (which Steve hasn’t managed to do), replying to vicious letters (James’ column is primarily humour so he doesn’t get those), and whether you should keep yourself out of your column – the answer is no, it’s impossible to, and the personal stories are often what the readers like best.  The session was entertaining, insightful, and full of laughter.  And if you want to know how long you need to be a journalist for, before you get the phone call asking if you want your own column, the answer is between 15-25 years.  So for someone like myself, only part-way through freelance journalism training, I’ve got something to look forward…..We did ambush Steve with a request to sign the book of his I had bought and a request for a photo for our blog (he had one of his 2 pack a day ciggies out of its packet and was making a beeline for the exit), but he charmingly smiled for the camera.  Once the photo has passed my critical eye we’ll add it to the blog.  (For those who don’t know, Steve wrote a an article a fortnight ago about blogging and it wasn’t complimentary!).

 

Other highlights: Shonagh Koea for her warmth and wit and her love of the smaller things in life – your day is going to go well if you start it with a good piece of toast and the roof isn’t leaking.  She celebrated the arrival of an $8 cheque in the mail with the attitude that it could have been less, say $6.

 

Heather O’Neill was a wonderful reminder that there are people out there who have survived all sorts of traumas – they live to write wonderful stories. See Philippa’s comments for more on her session. 

 

I could write a lot more but there are four more of us waiting to use the laptop, so it’s over and out for now.

General comments on event management

It was disappointing to attend two events that were spoilt to some extent by sound difficulties. Surely to goodness, an event of this calibre, needs to sort out the basics. Although, difficulties at one of the sessions could have been changed instantly if the chair had been more awake to the difficulties and compensated accordingly.

 

The chairs in the Lower NZI Room begin to annoy after two consecutive sessions. Perhaps it is inevitable after the luxury of the chairs upstairs.

 

Time keeping at sessions is, as usual, excellent.

 

Thank you for the extra half an hours that allow readers to eat slightly more than a muesli bar!

 

Chairing sessions is an art, a well known name is not enough! The chair does have the potential to unduly influence proceedings. Too often, how the session is chaired can tell us more about the foibles of the chair than the writers we have come to listen to. Full marks to Peter Wells and Mark Sainsbury for their efforts on Day One.

An hour with Loretta Napoleoni

Napoleoni is a highly influential economist, author, journalist and political commentator. Her session, which flew by, was greeted throughout by a thoughtful silence and deep admiration for the intellectual vigour and breadth and depth of knowledge. Her capacity to synthesise a wide range of threads into a coherent framework was quite extraordinary.

 

Starting from the fall of the Berlin Wall and its introduction of a ‘new’ global virus: democracy, Napoleoni detailed the appearance of a changed world. Her description moved rapidly through the correlation between democracy and slavery; the global spread of rogue economics; the eternal battle between politics and economics; the rise in petrol prices; Islamic finance; the drug trade and the various forms of the counterfeit industry. Her most recent book, Rogue Economics: Capitalism’s New Reality, is a very significant work, demanding attention if one wishes to move from the triviality of the 6pm news to a deep understanding of the forces that are shaping, if not redesigning our contemporary world. Napoleoni suggested that the cult film, The Matrix, provides a clear and disturbing picture of the fantasy or illusion that we are currently living in our daily lives. She wishes to empower consumers with knowledge of the world we inhabit; it is then over to us to decide how we will respond.

Books at our Library by Loretta Napoleoni

An hour with Peter Ho Davies

Award-winning writer Davies, who would prefer to be known as a Sino-Celtic writer, softly and delightfully, explored the art of writing short stories. For Davies the greatest gift he can offer his creative writing students is to value the need for patience in the writing process.  The single word ‘possibilities’, written across one of his first submitted stories to a literary magazine, cogitated on for three years, was the eventual catalyst for Davies’ writing career.

 

He sees it as a very difficult process, much harder than quantum physics (the specialty of his first degree). However, he believes it can lead to perfection, unlike the writing of a novel.

 

His first novel, The Welsh Girl, has been described as leaving one “thinking about the nature of cowardice and patriotism, identity and roots” (Jessica Mann).

 

Ho Davies, a very self-effacing, charming and enthusiastic writer, left the audience very satisfied with their hour-long glimpse into the writing and personality of the author.

Books at our library by Peter Ho Davies