Catherine Robertson

Catherine Robertson is the author of seven novels and Penguin has just published Spellbound, the third in her Gabriel's Bay series. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the IIML and has served as vice president of Romance Writers of New Zealand. She lives in Hawke's Bay, and in 2020 she founded the Good Books store in Wellington, with Jane Arthur.

Books
Jun 8, 2021
Books by Jeanette Winterson are visible in a bonfire

Notes on a book burning – and a defence of readers of 'wimmin's fiction'

When Jeanette Winterson burned her own books she was also belittling readers.

Read on.

Books
May 6, 2021
A confident-looking woman watches something out of frame; a fan of books from the Gabriel's Bay series

If it doesn't sell, you're screwed

Behind the scenes of a bestseller.

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Books
Nov 19, 2020
Interior of a bookstore, with customers

A brazen case of bookstore censorship

Two writers teamed up to open the book store of their dreams – and that means no bigots allowed.

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Books
Dec 17, 2019

Remembering the 80s heyday of New Zealand bookstores

Right now the country's booksellers are gasping, frantic, knackered – and still dealing politely with the rest of us at our worst. We at the Spinoff thank you for your service. Please enjoy this nostalgic hug of an essay by Catherine Robertson. 

Read on.

Books
Jun 4, 2019

How men present, and who they really are: Greg McGee’s new novel, reviewed

Four decades after holding a mirror up to Kiwi masculinity with the sensational play Foreskin's Lament, Greg McGee is back with Necessary Secrets, a new novel that asks the same question: whaddarya?

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Books
Jan 24, 2019

Book of the Week: Catherine Robertson’s hilarious new novel

Catherine Robertson's latest novel What You Wish For has raced to the top of the best-seller charts – but what she really, really wants is to win a prize for being funny.

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Books
Aug 28, 2018

Love me till the end of time in Ellerslie: a report from the NZ Romance Writers conference

'We rule the book-reading world': Catherine Robertson reports from the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference.

Read on.

Books
Jan 15, 2018

Book of the Week (actually, book of the summer): Gabriel’s Bay by Catherine Robertson

An essay by Catherine Robertson, author of the wildly entertaining novel Gabriel's Bay, on the problems some critics have with 'women's fiction'.

Read on.

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