Latest news with #BeckyManawatu
ABC News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Reading James Joyce's Ulysses for Bloomsday (and new fiction galore)
A guide to James Joyce from Irish writer Mary Morrissy, ahead of Bloomsday (16 June); New Zealand writer Becky Manawatu continues to explore howls of pain and compassion in her second novel, Kataraina; and magic realism in the boundaries between life and death, and Eastern Europe, in Helen Marshall's The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death. BOOKS James Joyce, Ulysses (1922) Mary Morrissy, Penelope Unbound, Banshee Press Becky Manawatu, Kataraina, Scribe Helen Marshall, The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death, Titan Books (Keep scrolling for a list of all other books mentioned on the program) GUESTS Mary Morrissy, Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist and teacher of creative writing. Her books include Penelope Unbound — a speculative history of the life of Norah Barnacle, wife of James Joyce. She is currently in Australia and taking part in Bloomsday Events Claire Mabey, NZ children's author, editor and founder of the Verb Wellington readers and writers festival. Her novel, The Raven's Eye Runaways, has just been named as a finalist in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Robert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction (he's been a judge and organiser for the Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction since 2008; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books — and is one of the most active members of the ABC Book Club Facebook Group). His website is OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Alan Hollinghurst, works Alan Hollinghurst, works James Joyce, Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake James Joyce, Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake Catherine Chidgey, The Book of Guilt Catherine Chidgey, The Book of Guilt Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go Jennifer Trevelyan, A Beautiful Family Jennifer Trevelyan, A Beautiful Family Francesca Wade, Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars Francesca Wade, Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars Ray Nayler, Where the Axe is Buried Ray Nayler, Where the Axe is Buried Luke Arnold, Whisper in the Wind Luke Arnold, Whisper in the Wind Emily Tesh, The Incandescent Emily Tesh, The Incandescent Michael Robotham, White Crow Michael Robotham, White Crow Mark Brandi, Eden Mark Brandi, Eden Keri Hulme, The Bone People Keri Hulme, The Bone People Becky Manawatu, Auē Becky Manawatu, Auē Tara June Winch, The Yield Tara June Winch, The Yield Alan Duff, Once Were Warriors Alan Duff, Once Were Warriors Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War Francesca Wade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife Francesca Wade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons Getrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Tolkas Getrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Tolkas Ray Nayler, Where the Axe is Buried Ray Nayler, Where the Axe is Buried Ray Nayler, The Mountain in the Sea Ray Nayler, The Mountain in the Sea Luke Arnold, The Last Smile in Sunder City CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Salome Lines-Morison Producer, Kate Evans and Salome Lines-Morison Sound engineers, John Jacobs and Emrys Cronin Sound engineers, John Jacobs and Emrys Cronin Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kataraina by Becky Manawatu review – a generous and masterful novel
The Māori and Pākehā writer Becky Manawatu's first novel, Auē (meaning 'to cry, wail or howl' in te reo Māori), came across my desk in a pile of books to judge for the 2020 Ockhams, New Zealand's most prestigious literary award. I'd never heard of Manawatu so the book arrived as blank as a newborn – and yet Auē read as if reincarnated for countless lives. It was an assured and flawless family drama exploring violence and redemption. It scooped the prize. In my notes I said the writing was 'like acid on the skin'. Manawatu has just released her second novel, Kataraina. Where Auē burnt, Kataraina heals; a soothing, rinsing, complex novel. Kataraina follows the eponymous character who is whāngai (aunty) to orphan Ārama, known as Ari and one of the narrators in Auē. This book acts as both sequel and prequel; one needn't read Auē to enjoy Kataraina, though their stories orbit each other in a tight dance. Kataraina, like Auē, is about family and violence, secrets and terrible inheritances. There is an incident involving 'the girl who shot the man' at the centre of the story to decipher, though crimes and their perpetrators in Kataraina are many and run deep. The plot is withheld for much of the novel; instead, this is a heart-touching portrait of Kataraina, from child to adult; the whenua (land) where she lives – the swamp, the river; and the ancestors that haunt them. Kataraina is told from a first-person plural point of view of the whānau (family), a collective perspective that spans centuries: 'It's an old story, and we can see it all as if we are there.' The story is nonlinear, and revealed in beautiful vignettes that weave together like the braided rivers of Kaikōura. The novel is as much about place – the braided rivers and the endangered kanakana (lamprey) – as it is about relationships between characters. Propelling the story forward is a secret – the identity of a murderer– that lingers as if 'once a dog barking somewhere distant, was now a shrill bird busting its head bloody against the glass pane of her heart'. Violence shimmers on the edge of the frame in Kataraina. It's the uneasy feeling of observation, of tiptoeing on eggshells before another character stomps over them. Words are powerful matter and Manawatu wields language like an axe against a stump, splintering across the page: We are dragons and demons and sluts and maggots and we cook a mean mutton chop and we roll a mean joint and write a mean essay and make a mean cuppa and can lend a mean ear and will let our patience be tested for love. It's all for love. We are mean Māori, mean. We're too much. As in Auē, Manawatu's descriptions are beautiful – the water's surface moves 'like a hand rubbing a dog's coat the wrong way'. There is so much mouthfeel in the writing – the 'soft fat water' of the ocean, the 'hot chips wrapped in creamy paper', in sumptuous, powerful passages like: 'The shamer is a beast, and it doesn't eat apples and eggs and creamed corn or pain. It slurps up hope and the people you might have been. Gorges on her brilliance.' Manawatu's writing style is reminiscent of Melissa Lucashenko, Toni Morrison and Keri Hulme – insofar as the author seems to be communing with these powerful characters on the altar of the page, and we, the readers, are opportune witnesses. Like Hulme, Manawatu is of Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu) whakapapa (ancestry). Kāi Tahu has its own storytelling tradition, and it sits here within the New Zealand gothic like a glove, the past informing the present and all time. Her words are a balm; woven into the text is the guttural language of te reo Māori, using Kāi Tahu dialect. I felt my tongue change while reading Kataraina, and the experience felt tapu (sacred) as the language tumbled down the back of my throat to the guts. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion There is a secondary narrative set in the present, in the form of a scientific field study of the river that 'flowed silver beside her, parallel timelines merging near the rising sun'. What I found genius about this thread was how it expanded my understanding of the observer and the observed through agricultural and botanical colonialism of the mahinga kai (food gathering places) of the Waiau-toa (Clarence River) and surrounds, while also adding depth and nuance to Kataraina's relationships, by examining them through historical changes and metaphors drawn from the landscape, past and present always conversing. The novel acts as a sort of river water; the swamp is the tipuna (ancestors), and we, the readers, are the kanakana swimming among them. Perhaps Manawatu, the storyteller, the whakahekenga (descendant), is scooping us up from the story of her ancestors, and walking us up the braided rivers, up, up, to Te Au nui (Mataura Falls) to learn, to be moved, to be changed. Whatever her intention, it is a wonder to read: Kataraina is a generous, expansive, masterful novel that drenches up and fills in at once. Kataraina is out through Scribe in Australia (A$35) and Mākaro Press in New Zealand (NZ$37)
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
The close cultural favourites of indie country star Mel Parsons
'Post High Slide' from Ohinehou Lyttleton based singer songwriter Mel Parsons is one of several new songs released ahead of a tour of Aotearoa and Australia that kicks off Sunday March 25 in Poneke Wellington. That's just ahead of the Aotearoa Music Awards, where Parson's sixth album Sabotage is nominated for Te Tino Pukaemi o te Tau Album of the Year. And Mel's song '5432', from that album, has also just been announced as a finalist for 2025 APRA Best Country Music Song. Mel Parsons joins Culture 101 for 'Fast Favourites'. They include an annual music festival she can walk to - Port Noise - and a fellow artist who also grew up in Westport, Becky Manawatu. The cover artwork for Sabotage features paintings by a favourite painter, Emma Hercus (also up for an AMA for that artwork). Mel's "Instagram go-to when she needs a laugh" meanwhile is Tom Sainsbury. As for music: she's looking forward to Jeff Parsnips' album for children in June, and Otautahi's Mim Jensen is her pick of emerging musicians who are going to make an impact.
