Film Options

In October 2013, along with Penguin (NZ), I signed a film options contract for my first novel Ribbons of Grace, another first for me. Whether we go to the movie depends on funding. Fingers crossed!

French Edition

In July 2013 Editions PRISMA (France) published Des vies derriere soi, the French edition of Lives we Leave Behind, which Penguin (NZ) released in October 2012. The French edition came about after Debra Millar gave Penguin’s French agent a copy of the NZ version of my novel at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair. The agent loved the book and worked hard to place it with a French publisher. It’s been a real thrill to have my fiction translated for the first time.

Dunedin launch of Lives We Leave Behind

Last Thursday, in the company of family, friends and book lovers, nurse historian Pamela Wood launched my new novel Lives We Leave Behind at Technique Restaurant, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin. Colleagues and students from the School of Hospitality set up the venue to resemble a military hospital base complete with canteen, flags and sandbags. They also themed the food to match the settings in the novel: NZ, Egypt and France. To signal the French phase, Monsieur R, complete with black beret and heavy accent, entered the room, blew a whistle and welcomed us to France. Bronwyn W-G and Erin from the University Book Shop sold out of books, Bronwyn H connected my Brisbane-based daughter online and Steve took the photos. Then when people left, the students, dressed in army uniforms, presented everyone with a beautiful hand-made paper box decorated with a red poppy and containing a small Anzac biscuit. So a memorable evening for many reasons!

My new novel Lives We Leave Behind is now in book shops throughout New Zealand and Australia and is also available online. The Dunedin launch takes place on 8 November when students and staff from the School of Hospitality at Otago Polytechnic will host a First World War themed event complete with music and food from Egypt and France, the settings for the novel. A second launch will be held on 6 December in Wellington at the 2012 Ako Aotearoa Symposium followed by a January celebration at Dorothy Brown’s in Arrowtown. By then the novel will be well and truly launched!        

Painting Exhibition

My youngest daughter Kate has a fabulous new painting exhibition at Gallery 33 Wanaka. This painting is one of eleven which can be viewed on Kate’s website www.katealterio.co.nz or on Gallery 33’s www.gallery33.co.nz Prices are available at http://www.gallery33.co.nz/artworks.php?artist_id=200

Book Titles

Over the last twelve months I have been paying a lot of attention to book titles because for the first time in my writing career I finished a tenth draft of a work of fiction without knowing what I would call it. Usually I have a title before I write a single word so it was somewhat disconcerting to work on a nameless novel. Luckily, a writer who, like me, is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at the IILM, Victoria University of Wellington, made a great suggestion after reading my manuscript. My Penguin publisher tweaked the title slightly then registered Lives We Leave Behind on the Penguin (NZ) database. I love the title. It fits the story perfectly. I am now happily working on the eleventh draft. My novel will be published in 2012.

Ribbons of Grace now available in eBook format

Ribbons of Grace, published by Penguin NZ in 2007, is now available in eBook format globally through Kobo http://www.kobobooks.com/ and affiliated international retailers. Readers now have a choice of purchasing a 2nd edition 2008 paperback copy from New Zealand and Australian bookshops or purchasing Ribbons of Grace through the Kobo website and those websites of affiliated retailers for direct download to Kobo and Sony eBook readers, as well as via apps for iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and other smart phones. Thanks Penguin staff for including my novel in your eBook list.