Catherine Chidgey is the two-time winner of New Zealand’s richest literary prize, the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her new novel, Pet, was published hot on the heels of her novel, The Axeman’s Carnival, which won in 2023. Set in New Zealand in the 1980s and probing themes of racism, misogyny and the oppressive reaches of Catholicism, Pet will take a rightful place next to other classic portraits of childhood betrayal: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Go-Between, Heavenly Creatures and Au Revoir Les Enfants among them. Liz Grant finds out what got Catherine out of her 13-year writer’s block and into the flow of such productivity.
“A writer of formidable resources, a deft stylist possessed of uncanny imaginative acuity.”- The Guardian.
This session was a live event on the 27th of August and can now be watched at home On Demand until 11.59pm, Sunday 17 September. To book your On Demand ticket, click GET TICKETS. Buy one session for $15, or all 12 sessions for $120.
The livestream of this session is offered as part of the WORD Book Club.
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