News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

John Updike the celebrated, award winning American author has died of lung cancer aged 76. He was a prolific writer, having 27 novels published along with 14 short story collections, plays and numerous volumes of poetry, essays and criticism. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction twice, the first for Rabbit is Rich in 1981 and the second for Rabbit at Rest ten years later. His most recent novel, published in 2008 was The Widows of Eastwick. This was a sequel to his 1984 novel, The Witches of Eastwick made into a motion picture starring Jack Nicholson. He was on the staff of the New Yorker magazine for many years and later became a highly regarded art crtic and reviewer.

James Crumley, the hard boiled American crime writer has died aged 68. He was a much acclaimed novelist, who published only seven private eye novels. His detectives were often drug-infused, alcohol-soaked, violent and enjoyed the use of profanities, but all were likeable, complex characters, that reflected some of their creator’s life experiences. His first published novel in 1969, was his only non-detective novel titled, One to Count Cadence. The Last Good Kiss published in 1988, was considered by most to be his best novel. The Right Madness was his last work published in 2005. He was divorced four times and is survived by his fifth wife.

Wellington writer Jenny Pattrick has been awarded the $100,000 New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize. This pestigious award covers her travel and living expenses for six months in France with time to be spent at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton, the south of France, where between 1919 and 1920, Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote. Previous winners include, Lloyd Jones (1989), Maurice Gee (1992) and Damien Wilkins (2008).

Jenny Pattrick is best known for her historical novels, The Denniston Rose (2003), Heart of Coal ( 2004) and Catching the Current (2005 ). Her latest work, Landings, is another historical fiction this time set along the Whanganui River.

American writer Michael Crichton has died after a long battle with cancer aged 66. He was a man of many talents, being a medical doctor, an author, film producer, film director , screenplay writer and television producer. He is best known for his science fiction and techno-thriller novels, selling over 150 million copies. The movies of his novels, Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World,  had huge global success. His first novel was published under his pseudonym John Lange, which he used until 1972, along with the name Jeffrey Hudson. He also wrote and directed 8 movies and created the popular television series ER, writing the first three episodes. Michael Crichton had strong views on global warming, which he expressed in his penultimate novel State of Fear published in 2004. His last novel Next was a futurist suspense thriller about scientific discoveries.

The 2008 fifth edition of The Best New Zealand Fiction has this year been edited by the veteran short story writer Owen Marshall. Dame Fiona Kidman began the series in 2004, editing the first three volumes followed by Fiona Farrell in 2007. The latest edition includes a short story by Julian Novitz who won $10,000 for this year’s BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award for his story Three Couples. Previous winners of this award, Charlotte Grimshaw and Carl Nixon also have stories included in this fifth volume of stories, along with Craig Cliff a previous winner in the novice category. The most recently reveived New Zealand fiction can be found on My Library

Award winning American crime writer Tony Hillerman died on 26th October 2008 aged 86. His first novel, The Blessing Way, published in 1970, featured Lieutenant Joe  Leaphorn of the Navajo tribal police. This character  became a favourite with readers, and when Tony Hillerman linked him to another equally popular character Sergeant Jim Chee, in the novel Skin-walker, published in 1986, it became a bestseller and won a Spur award from the Western Writers of America. All his eighteen mystery novels are set in the Navajo lands of south-west America and deal sympathetically with issues facing the Navajo people and their culture. He was awarded the best novel Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1973 for Dance Hall of the Dead.

Tony Hillerman also wrote children’s books, edited numerous anthologies as well as several non-fiction books about the American south-west. His last novel, The Shape Shifter was published in 2006.

The 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to a French novelist and philosopher, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio. Born in 1940, he spent his early life in Nigeria and several years in the 1970’s living with the Embera-Wouaan tribe in Panama. He has published more than 36 books, that include short stories, novels, essays and translations on the subject of Native American mythology. In 1980 his novel Desert was the winner of the Grand Prix Paul Morand award. This is one of his best known publications set in the Sahara, it is one of few works that address the relationships between France and her former colonies.

The Man Booker prize 2008 has been awarded to 33 year old Aravind Adiga for his first novel The White Tiger. Although born in India, he emigrated with his family to Australia where he finished his high school education. He studied English Literature at Columbia University, New York and at Magdalen College Oxford. As a financial journalist, he worked for The Financial Times, Money and The Wall Street Journal. This was followed by several years with Time as a correspondent, before becoming freelance. He is now based in Mumbai.

The White Tiger is both shocking and entertaining. A harsh, satrical look at modern India. From the desperate struggles of the poor to the fantastic cravings of the rich and what happens when these two levels of society collude and then collide with each other. This is an exhilarating  page turning novel, that is filled with humour and pathos, and winning the Man Booker prize will prove it to be well worth reading.

Wellington City Libraries in association with Allen & Unwin, Unity Books and the New Zealand Book Council present “An Evening with Emily Perkins”, bestselling author of A Novel About My Wife.  Emily Perkins will be in conversation with Fergus Barrowman, with questions invited from the audience following the discussion.

When: Thursday 24 July, 6pm
Where: The Cinema, City Gallery, Civic Square, Wellington

Tickets are $10, and available at the Information Desk, Wellington Central Library, 65 Victoria Street.
Ticket sales are in person only, no reserves. Payments accepted: cash, cheque or eftpos.

Our last author event sold out quickly so don’t delay!