Writers old and new enjoy mutual admiration
Ninety-year-old Rene´e Taylor (Nga¯ti Kahungunu) is one of debut novelist Becky Manawatu’s (Nga¯ i Tahu) writing heroes.
With 53 years and many miles between them, they’ll meet for the first time at this year’s Nelson Arts Festival, appearing on stage at Page & Blackmore Pukapuka Talks on October 27 to discuss their new novels, The Wild Card and Aue¯.
‘I’m so looking forward to meeting Becky Manawatu, who’s written the fabulous novel Aue¯,’’ said Taylor, who was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her Services to Literature and Drama in 2006. ‘‘We’ve never met, and it’s wonderful to think that the Nelson Arts Festival is providing that opportunity.’’
Taylor has won five literary awards, including the 2018 New Zealand Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement, and is also possibly New Zealand’s oldest blogger. She is also about to see her first foray into crime fiction, The Wild Card, published.
‘‘The Wild Card almost happened by accident,’’ she says. ‘‘I wrote it to test my own ideas, which I’d incorporated into a workshop I created called ‘Breaking and Entering – How to Write a Crime Novel’. I decided I needed to write one at the same time as my students, to make sure I wasn’t asking them to do anything I couldn’t do.’’
One of the first readers of the manuscript that became Aue¯, Taylor has backed it ever since, recommending to Mary McCallum at Ma¯karo Press that she publish it back in 2017.
‘‘Rene´ e wrote a fantastic letter of tautoko for an early draft of Aue¯, which I remain so very grateful for,’’ said Manawatu,
Page & Blackmore Pukapuka Talks: Backing Wild Cards, Sunday, October 27, 3.30pm at the Granary Festival Cafe. Tickets available online from nelsonarts festival.co.nz and TicketDirect, or in person from i-SITE, Nelson Centre for Musical Arts, Theatre Royal or Richmond Mall information desk.
Bellana Stratford is studying the NZ Diploma in Writing for the Creative Industries at NMIT.