Booker Prize: end of an era?

Observer critics liken this year’s Man Booker Prize win to that of NZ’s Keri Hulme on “that unforgettable night in the mid-80s.” Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi won thanks to “a virtuoso display of chairmanship” by Lisa Jardine. Hulme’s novel, the bone people, was similarly promoted by then chairman, Norman St John Stevas. Yet, while Hulme’s win belongs to “Booker’s glorious past,” The Life of Pi is called “reader friendly and market conscious” – something which has certainly never been said of Hulme’s difficult and experimental work.


Tags: Keri Hulme  Observer (The)  

Amy Brown’s New Novel Inspired by Women and Art

Amy Brown’s New Novel Inspired by Women and Art

Like many writers before her, New Zealand-born Amy Brown takes inspiration from the Australian feminist icon Stella Maria Miles Franklin in her captivating debut novel My Brilliant Sister – but instead…