Hamilton Book Month

Creative Waikato Big Space

131 Alexanda St, Hamilton

Tuesday 18 March

6.30pm

 

Stories, Nations, and the Power of the Past: A Conversation with Hamish Clayton

 

Hamish Clayton’s debut novel Wulf (2011) received bountiful praise from both fellow novelists and

reviewers. Lloyd Jones declared: ‘I was blown away by Wulf's imaginative derring-do. It is easily the most impressive debut I've read in a long time.’ For Murray Bramwell, ‘Clayton [is] a gifted writer for a new generation’ and Wulf a ‘powerfully imagined novel – assured, crisply poetic and spellbinding in its unfurling narrative’ (NZ Books).

 

As part of Hamilton’s Book Month, this new, exciting New Zealand novelist will talk about Wulf with University of Waikato English lecturer Kirstine Moffat. Hamish will share insights into the power of stories, the interconnectivity of cultures and places, the mythologising, remembering, and forgetting of the past, and the way in which historical fiction blends the real and the imagined. Hamish will read from Wulf and his soon-to-be-completed next creative endeavour. He will also share some invaluable tips for aspiring writers. As a novelist who is also writing a PhD on New Zealand author David Ballantyne and Sydney Bridge Upside Down (1968) at Victoria University of Wellington, Hamish is adept at navigating shifts in style, tone, and register.

 

Wulf is essentially an historical novel but it’s also history and mythology and fiction. Set in 19th century New Zealand, Wulf weaves elements of the story of Te Rauparaha, his rise to dominance and his reputation that led to the nickname “Napoleon of the South Pacific”, with the mythology of the Old English poem of Wulf and Eadwacer.

 

Hamish's event is supported by Poppies Book Shop.