Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.
As always, you can email us at papercutspod@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @papercutspod and a big thanks to The Spinoff and the Mātātuhi Foundation for their support.
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Papercuts report from the ground at the Auckland Writers Festival 2019, where a record-breaking 82,000 seats were filled over seven days of literary goodness.
Jenna, Louisa and Kiran interview Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize winner Dame Fiona Kidman, Pulitzer Prize-winning Andrew Sean Greer and the incredible and probably soon-to-be prize winning Elaine Castillo.
We break down the Ockham Book Awards and special events the Festival Gala and Literally Lorne; discuss Ockham winners and festival guests Kamila Shamsie, Chessie Henry, Jill Abramson, Alexander Chee, Shayne Carter and Carla Guelfenbein; and attend two book launches and drink a lot of wine.
Papercuts: Auckland Writers Festival Report Book List
Ockham NZ Book Awards
Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize: This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman
Full list of winners.
Festival Gala
We Can Make a Life by Chessie Henry
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
I Have Loved Me a Man: The Life and Times of Mika by Mika
Book Launches
Purakau: Maori Myths Retold by Maori Writers Edited by Witi Ihimaera and Whiti Hereaka (with a mention of The Unreliable People by Rosetta Allen)
Attraction by Ruby Porter (New winner of Michael Gifkins Prize: Tom McLean writing as Tom Remiger for Soldiers.)
Dame Fiona Kidman Interview
Milkman by Anna Burns
The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke by Tina Makereti
The Gulf Between by Maxine Alterio
Under Glass by Gregory Khan
Andrew Sean Greer Interview
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
David Sedaris
Elaine Castillo Interview
America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
Alexander Chee’s Blog: Koreanish
Documentary: Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen
Sessions we saw
Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland’s interview with Kim Hill
Caroline’s Bikini by Kirsty Gunn
The Big Music by Kirsty Gunn
Wild Journeys by Bruce Ansley
French Exit by Patrick DeWitt
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson
Dead People I Have Known by Shayne Carter
In the Distance with You by Carla Gulfenbein
Clarice Lispector