Night Terrors

I’ve been having a particularly acute case of Second Rate Writer’s Syndrome (SRWS) ever since Ellie Catton won the Man Booker Prize. I’m super excited and pleased for her, and I think it’s a wonderful thing for New Zealand literature, but it also reminds me that before I started writing in earnest, I harboured Booker fantasies. Little by little I’ve adjusted my expectations , and now I’d think I’d won a prize if I got published overseas. I’m up to page 305 of The Luminaries (signed first edition!), and it is so very good, and Ellie is quite brilliant. Sigh. I went to China with her a few years back – my comics about it are here and here.

I’ve got a few events coming up if you are in Auckland. First up, I’m talking at The Resource Room in Pt Chevalier at 7pm next Thursday, 24th October. Come along to get your book signed and drink some wine. And then at 6pm on the 30th of October, I’m going to a book launch at Auckland Central Library of From Earth’s End: The Best of NZ Comics. I’m lucky enough to be included in that book, yippee! On Sunday 3rd November I’m taking part in the wonderful The Women’s Bookshop’s Ladies’ Litera-Tea. Come along!