In an early Auckland Writers Festival appearance, the creator of Veep and The Thick of It urged network execs to resist meddling – and chipped in on the great New Zealand political pizza debate.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders is the year's most talked-about novel, and there's much excitement that the author will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival in May. Wyoming Paul reviews what may a masterpiece.
A lawyer has run amok at the Auckland Art Gallery at the launch of the Auckland Writers Festival. The Spinoff Review of Books was there.
Dutch novelist Herman Koch writes page-turning thrillers about the repulsiveness of the people next door in middle-class neighbourhoods. Kiran Dass interviewed him ahead of his appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival.
Fiona Kidman once had Helen Garner over for dinner. It did not go well.
In which Spinoff Review of Books editor Steve Braunias sits down with London writer Andrew O'Hagan in Wellington, and they talk for one hour and 41 minutes.
Many readers have imaginary relationships with their favourite authors, but few manage to turn fantasy into reality. Madeleine Chapman tells how she tried to bridge the gap between fandom and friendship with author Eleanor Catton