Lowlife: short stories
by Michael BoturISBN-13: 978-1547018598
A Whangarei writer says ‘working class’ experiences he has
had throughout his 20s and early 30s as part of Generation Rent inspired his
latest short story collection.
Michael Botur releases Lowlife:
short stories in Whangarei on July 12. The book is Botur’s fourth short
story collection, with previous collections garnering strong reviews.
Lowlife has a thoroughly Northland flavour to it, featuring a unique
“gang patch” cover referencing the ‘dirty realism’ style and content of the book.
“The Lowlife
stories are about people stuck in conflict trying to work their way out of it,
trying to make their lives better,” Botur says.
“My characters often share frustrations with me as we both
try to make our lives better in a part of the country where there’s not much
money circulating. Buying a cheap house in Tikipunga and trying to escape
Generation Rent has been a particularly big influence on me. That’s a class
conflict thing, and class conflict is a big theme in the stories.”
Michael Botur works as a freelance journalist for Northland
DHB and as a content writer of blogs and property and parenting columns. His
recent publications include poetry in Manifesto
Aotearoa: 101 Political Poems published by Otago University Press and flash
fiction selected for Bonsai: The Big Book
of Small Stories by Canterbury University Press. Botur is author of
previous short story collections Spitshine
(2016), Mean (2013) and Hot Bible! (2012). Awards include Whangarei
Libraries Flash Fiction Comp 2015 first and second place winner, Guest Fiction
Writer for Tākahe magazine, third place in the Miles Hughes Award 2014, second
in 2009’s Kiwi Short Story Competition and winner of Her magazine’s Short Story
Competition 2008.
250pp ISBN-13: 978-1547018598 RRP $24.99
No comments:
Post a Comment