Writer Tells Stories in Berlin

New Zealand novelist and short story writer Paula Morris was a guest at this year’s International Literature Festival in Berlin on from 4 through 16 September. Morris read from Rangatira, which is based on episodes from her grandfather’s life. Morris told Berlin’s English-language magazine ExBerliner that she writes because it is “as necessary as eating, though not always quite as enjoyable.” Morris’ first short story collection, Forbidden Cities, was a regional finalist in the 2009 Commonwealth Prize. She is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (2008). New Zealand is the Guest of Honour at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, which runs 10 to 14 October 2012. Some 76 titles from New Zealand are due to be released in German translation by the end of the year.