Weekend Rewind: Our literary heroes

New Zealand author Janet Frame. Photo / File

Opinion

In the wake of the most successful ever Auckland Writers Festival, NZ On Screen’s Zara Potts takes a look at some of our most enduring literary figures.

For its size, New Zealand has a mighty reputation for producing some incredible literary talent. Our writers have won Booker prizes, been shortlisted for Nobel prizes and have been celebrated both at home and offshore for more than a century.

From poetry to prose, and everything in between, New Zealand certainly can take pride in its writers – particularly of the female persuasion.

The great Virginia Woolf was so impressed by our own Katherine Mansfield's literary prowess that she once said that Mansfield's prose was the only writing she was jealous of.
Never short of admirers – or rivals – Mansfield has been credited with changing the course of the English short story, and it's true that her own stories found international acclaim. She left Wellington as a 19-year old and sailed to England where she led a celebrated and bohemian life but died tragically at the age of 34.

Watch A Portrait of Katherine Mansfield here:

Six decades later, in 1984, the literary world was talking about another New Zealand writer – the reclusive 'Coaster, Keri Hulme. Her book, the bone people, had seemingly come out of nowhere and won the (then) Booker prize before taking the reading world by storm. A rejection letter from the publishing company William Collins said of the book: "Undoubtedly Miss Hulme can write but unfortunately we don't understand what she is writing about." Plenty of others did however, and the book became a huge success and a staple on the English curriculum for high schools throughout the country.

Watch an excerpt from The Storyteller here:

Janet Frame is arguably our best known but most private author. Shortlisted for the Nobel prize, she won many honours and accolades throughout her career. Her life was punctuated by traumatic events and she wrote fearlessly about them, even though she was famously shy. Although she was known in New Zealand as a cultural icon, her international readership was immense and the Jane Campion film

An Angel at my Table

won her a new generation of fans and helped cement her as a national treasure.

Watch Three New Zealanders: Janet Frame here:

It may not have escaped your attention that many of our greatest authors are women. Practitioners of both prose and poetry, their writing crosses all genres – and sometimes the most important books are written for our youngest readers. New Zealand authors are no slouches when it comes to children's books and one of our most loved children's writers is Margaret Mahy. Her books line many a child's bookcase and she was awarded the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen award, the highest international recognition given to a children's author.

Watch an excerpt from Made in New Zealand – Margaret Mahy here:

There have been a swag of damehoods given to our popular writers – Dame Joy Cowley and Dame Lynley Dodd to name but two. Lynley Dodd is particularly beloved by pre-schoolers for her Hairy Maclary series about a loveable terrier and his pals, including Hercules Morse and Bottomley Potts. The books have become a bedtime classic for generations of young Kiwis and they also dominate the "best books" lists year in and year out.

Watch Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy here:

While she may have been a dame, Ngaio Marsh was definitely not for children. From her home in the Cashmere Hills, she wrote crime novels to rival the great Agatha Christie. In fact, Marsh was known as one of the three greatest "Queens of Crime" and she published 32 detective novels over her career. Her most famous character was that of gentleman Detective Roderick Alleyn, and while most of her novels are set in England, Detective Alleyn does manage to pop up in the New Zealand countryside in four of her books – usually on holiday or on secondment to the local police.

Watch Three New Zealanders: Ngaio Marsh here:

And Katherine Mansfield again appears in a true literary television series – Winners & Losers. The 1976 groundbreaking television series adapted seven short stories by some of New Zealand best writers, including Mansfield. Created by screen legends Roger Donaldson and Ian Mune, the series told New Zealand stories in a true New Zealand voice, and for many viewers it was the first time they'd seen a story by any Kiwi author, let alone Katherine Mansfield, come to life.

Watch The Woman at the Store from Winners & Losers here: