WHAT THE MAGPIE SAYS: CATHERINE CHIDGEY (2023)

WHAT THE MAGPIE SAYS: CATHERINE CHIDGEY (2023)

Author: Auckland Writers Festival October 27, 2023 Duration: 59:19
Is The Axeman’s Carnival the great Kiwi Gothic classic? Plenty of reviewers think so. Catherine Chidgey surprised everybody when she revealed her next book was going to be narrated by a mimicking magpie. Would it work? It sure does. Not only is it funny and magical, it’s also a bird’s-eye view into the very real struggle of farming life, a nuanced portrayal of love and domestic violence, and a 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist. Following on from her 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for The Wish Child and the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisting for Remote Sympathy, she has become one of our preeminent fiction stylists. She’s definitely on a roll and her coming novel Pet takes a swerve into completely new territory again. She will discuss her writing life and Tama the magpie with Rachael King. Supported by Platinum Bold Patrons Betsy & Michael Benjamin.

The Auckland Writers Festival podcast is a direct line to the stages and conversations of one of the Southern Hemisphere's most vibrant literary events. This audio archive captures the live, unscripted energy of festival sessions, bringing the voices of the world's most compelling authors, thinkers, and poets directly to you. Each episode is a deep dive into the ideas shaping our world, from intimate interviews on the craft of writing to expansive panel discussions on history, politics, science, and culture. You'll hear novelists dissect their characters, historians trace forgotten narratives, and poets articulate the ineffable, all within the unique atmosphere of a live audience. This isn't a produced studio show; it's the sound of intellectual discovery and passionate debate happening in real time. The collection serves as a lasting resource, preserving the festival's dynamic spirit long after the final applause. For anyone who believes in the power of stories to challenge and connect us, this podcast offers a front-row seat to a celebration of words and the people who wield them with extraordinary skill. Tune in to be reminded of why literature matters.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Auckland Writers Festival
Podcast Episodes
CALLIE HART INTERVIEW [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:28
CALLIE HART INTERVIEW by Auckland Writers Festival
THE MORALITY OF AI: TOBY WALSH (2023) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:37
There are approximately three million robots working in factories around the world, and another 30 million in people’s homes. Soon robots will outnumber humans. But what happens if an autonomous AI harms or kills a perso…
WORDS LOST AND FOUND: PIP WILLIAMS (2023) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:41
Pip Williams’ best-selling novel The Dictionary of Lost Words tells the story of motherless Esme who spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers gather w…
THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA: SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA (2023) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:28
The judges for the winning 2022 Booker Prize praised Shehan Karunatilaka’s novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida for the ‘ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques’. Set in Sri Lanka…
THE BOOK OF ROADS AND KINGDOMS: RICHARD FIDLER (2023) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:01
The Book of Roads and Kingdoms brings to life a dazzling culture of science, literature, philosophy and adventure arising out of the flourishing metropolis of Baghdad during Islam’s Golden Age. Australian writer / broadc…
SOMETHING THAT MAY SHOCK AND DISCREDIT YOU: DANIEL LAVERY (2023) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:01
Delightfully inventive and witty, Daniel Lavery (as Mallory Ortberg) was the cofounder of The Toast, the pop-culture platform with literary depth that described its target audience as ‘librarians’. The best-selling autho…
INDELIBLE CITY: LOUISA LIM (2023) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:53
In the opening paragraphs of Stella Prize shortlisted Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, author Louisa Lim is torn between journalistic neutrality and her love of Hong Kong as she is invited by guer…
It's Not About Hope: CHELSEA WATEGO, EMMA ESPINER [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:53
In Another Day in the Colony, Mununjali and South Sea Islander health activist Chelsea Watego has a chapter called F**k Hope. She urges her mob to be nihilistic because hope is the dream deferred, better to embrace sover…