I’m not quite sure why this session was called ‘Under the Skin’, so I may have missed something. Lynn Freeman was the Chair and the two writers were Paula Morris (right), and Linda Olsson (left). Both ex-pat kind of girls in that Paula is a Kiwi who has lived and worked abroad now since 1985, but she returns home regularly and Linda is from Sweden and has lived in New Zealand off and on for over twenty years.
Paula Morris is a
very striking presence, a person who looks entirely comfortable in her own skin,
whereas in contrast, Linda presented in a quieter manner and took time to seem
entirely comfortable. This intrigued
me, as when they were both asked about their ex-pat status. Paula had no
problem being a Kiwi abroad and strongly identifying with her New Zealand
roots, in spite of having lived abroad for so long. She regularly visits New Zealand, has US
citizenship (to avoid the pat-down when she re-enters the US, and in order to
vote), but seems completely comfortable and certain of her Kiwi identity. In contrast, Linda spoke of her ongoing
struggle with identity and a sense of belonging, either in Sweden or in New
Zealand. Something which Lynn Freeman suggested perhaps she is channelling her
novels, in particular her first two, the themes of grief and loss.
I found this contrast between the two writers
quite striking to observe and it would be interesting to have listened to them
talking to each other around this identity issue, one so certain, the other
less certain.
Linda said that she arrived
in New Zealand from Sweden as an ‘accompanying spouse’ over 20 years ago and
had time on her hands when she arrived to go back to university and complete a
BA in English and German literature at Victoria University – she studied for
the joy of it and was living in NZ with a ‘three-year perspective’ and as the
time extended, she kept renewing the ‘three-year perspective’. Then she entered the post graduate creative
writing programme at Auckland University and her thesis became her first
published novel. Interestingly, her
latest novel “The Kindness of your Nature” she wrote parallel in English and
Swedish. She remarked it was only after
this achievement that she began to feel confident to put ‘writer’ on the
immigration card when entering the country.
In contrast Paula said, that she was putting ‘writer’ when she was still
a publicist for a record company – revealing the difference between them (and
of course, Paula was being humorous too).
I was very
interested to know more about the factors(age, cultural background, etc) that
might have affected these two different reactions to sense of place, or if in
fact it was the circumstances of their dislocation. Paula says she can write anywhere. She wrote her latest YA novel set in winter
in England while sitting in the sweltering heat of Mexico with no internet
connection hand-writing as the paper curled in the heat. You get the sense of someone who sees writing
as sheer hard work – and she gets down and does it. With Linda, I got more of a sense of someone
who having come to writing later in life is less sure of herself (but not a
lesser writer) and in spite of her big success both locally and internationally
with her first novel.
Linda spoke about
first generation immigrants (as she sees herself) and her children. She felt that ‘childhood forms you’, and is
the country in you, and she believes it may take more than one generation,
saying that her own youngest child still identifies strongly with Sweden. And she commented that perhaps her grandchildren
will be “proper Kiwis”. Linda has travelled a lot in the United States because
of her novels and observed the similarities between Sweden and New Zealand in
their love of nature and their ability to name nature, a flower, or a tree,
whereas in the United States she felt intimate connection and naming of nature was
less likely. Although Linda has very
strong feelings for the landscape she told us all her novels have started with
a person and the landscape came after.
Paula told us about
the writing of her latest novel ‘Rangatira’ and how she was back in New Zealand
completing research for an earlier book and standing looking at a Lindauer
painting of Paratene (Ngati Wai Rangatira Paratene Te
Manu) and this is where her
inspiration came from. She had the
advantage of having family connections (whakapapa) with Ngati Wai which she
agreed eased the access for her to be entrusted with his story – although she
also pointed out there were still many gaps to fill and that she had to imagine
his life.
Both writers agreed
that writing in the first person is much more difficult than writing in the
third person because of the need to create and sustain an authentic voice. Paula said that her students often want to use
first person because they think it’s easier.
Lynn chaired the
event dedicating specific time to each writer.
So, although both writers got equal time to be heard, there wasn’t the
same chance for the two writers to engage and spark off one another. Although they both got a very fair hearing
and their stories told separately, made for quite a striking contrast, I
couldn’t help feeling how lovely it would have been to just hear the two of
them ‘chatting together about writing’.
Maggie Rainey-Smith
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