Heavenly feature: An Angel at My Table, 30 years onThirty years after An Angel at My Table brought Janet Frame's autobiographies to the cinema in Jane Campion's acclaimed adaptation, Russell Baillie reveals the creation of a Kiwi classic.Thirty years ago, Janet Frame went to the movies. At the time,… Oct 21 20October 21, 2020Article at NZ Herald
The George Saunders-inspired musical with songs by Bret McKenzieGeorge Saunders and Bret McKenzie tell Russell Baillie about a new musical that’s making its stage debut at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. George Saunders has one word for his novella, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, being turned into… Feb 14 20February 14, 2020Article at Noted
Blowing his own trumpet: Why Red Hot Chili Pepper Flea left the band out of his memoirRed Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea tells Russell Baillie about his intoxicating autobiography and why the story stops just as the band hit the big time. Michael Peter Balzary isn’t the first rock star to write about his childhood. He’s not even the… Jan 22 20January 22, 2020Article at Noted
Why George Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four doesn't feel like historyRussell Baillie talks to British journalist Dorian Lynskey about how authors marked the 70th anniversary of Orwell’s dystopia. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and next January will mark the same of… Dec 02 19December 02, 2019Article at Noted
Why Colson Whitehead is 'America's storyteller'Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead on why his novels about historic American racism aren’t written out of anger, his rising literary stardom and the influence of Sonic Youth. On a page towards the end of Colson Whitehead’s novel The Nickel Boys,… Sep 27 19September 27, 2019Article at Noted
Simon Winchester: But why is this land your land?The WORD Christchurch-bound bestselling history writer is also in New Zealand to research his next work – a history of land ownership. When Simon Winchester returns to New Zealand at the end of this month, he’s not just coming to talk books. He will… Aug 26 19August 26, 2019Article at Noted
Look who's Tolkien: Nicholas Hoult on playing The Lord of the Rings creatorNicholas Hoult stars as JRR Tolkien in a biopic that contemplates how the writer’s early life may have influenced his adventures in Middle-earth. Nicholas Hoult remembers reading The Hobbit. He was an 11-year-old on the set of About a Boy, in which… Jun 06 19June 06, 2019Article at Noted
Why Generation X writer Douglas Coupland misses his pre-internet brainCanadian polymath Douglas Coupland talks to Russell Baillie about how life in the Information Age has affected his writing and his approach to visual arts. When the Listener calls the Vancouver home of Douglas Coupland, the writer who defined a… May 16 19May 16, 2019Article at Noted
Shayne Carter’s memoir is hilarious, harrowing and brutally honestRussell Baillie reviews the veteran musician’s confessional autobiography Dead People I Have Known. The cultural impact of the music that emerged from Dunedin in the 1980s has echoed in the decades since. Lately, they’ve been resounding more… May 09 19May 09, 2019Article at Noted
Culture hero: Peter Wells, 1950-2019Peter Wells wrote books and films about many things in his career as an author and screenwriter. But where his writing shone brightest wasn’t necessarily in his odes to heritage architecture, biographies of historical figures or his stories of LGBT… Mar 02 19March 02, 2019Article at Noted
Off to the big smoke: A pilgrimage to poet Sam Hunt Sam Hunt isn’t performing any more but he’s got a new book of poems and plenty of stories to go with them. (Warning: contains drug references and outbursts of poetry). You take the turn-off from the main highway. You stop in the first small town to… Aug 24 18August 24, 2018Article at Noted
How bookseller Shaun Bythell hit back at Amazon and rude customersHe turned his secondhand bookshop and its annoying clientele into a hit book and now Scottish author Shaun Bythell is heading from Wigtown to WORD Christchurch. Shaun Bythell wanders into the cool of his shop looking like a man whose natural… Aug 16 18August 16, 2018Article at Noted
My dad, such a Dagg: Lorin Clarke talks about her father's influence and legacyThe daughter of legendary satirist John Clarke pays tribute to her late father while carving out a successful writing career of her own. Lorin Clarke remembers a moment during her first year at university when an English lecturer started discussing a… May 15 18May 15, 2018Article at Noted
Tim Winton's tale of toxic masculinity is a parable for our timeWriting a dark novel about a 15-year-old misogynist sociopath tested Australian writer Tim Winton. Now it’s out, he’s troubled the boy’s toxic masculinity is all too real. Tim Winton is a man of many talents. Writing mostly. But he can also back a… May 11 18May 11, 2018Article at Noted
The Camera in the Crowd: The opening reels of NZ's film historyChristopher Pugsley's The Camera in the Crowd is a definitive history of how moving pictures arrived in Aotearoa. There wasn’t a lot of comedy in New Zealand film’s first 25 years. Back then, it seems, the dominant movie genres were marching, waving… Feb 12 18February 12, 2018Article at Noted
Diana Wichtel's long search for her Holocaust-survivor fatherA new book by Listener senior writer Diana Wichtel offers a quietly devastating memoir about her search for her father, a man who escaped the Holocaust while much of his family perished. Diana Wichtel left Canada in 1964 with her mother and siblings… Sep 28 17September 28, 2017Article at Noted
Rod Stewart's NZ return: My life is an open book Fresh from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and a Vegas residency, Rod Stewart is returning to New Zealand. He talks to Russell Baillie about his hilarious autobiography and his best album of self-penned stories in ages. Where… Sep 04 14September 04, 2014Article at NZ Herald
Cut to the thrust: Dexter creator Jeff LindsayJeff Lindsay is the Miami crime novelist who behind the series about sociopath vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan, which has inspired the hit television series Dexter. A phone call finds him in his summer residence in the mountains of North… Jul 15 09July 15, 2009Article at NZ Herald
Positively George StreetPositively George Street By Matthew Bannister (Reed) **** Positively George Street Sneaky Feelings (Flying Nun) **** Reviewed by Russell Baillie A multimedia experience this — the book and the album to read it by. Poring through Matthew Bannister's… Jul 01 00July 01, 2000Article at NZ Herald
