NZ Book Council Booknotes Unbound Newsletter #35

Fandom: Debbie Cowens on literary mashups When Kapiti-based author Debbie Cowens was young, she longed to be a detective/mystery writer; a Sherlockian version of Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote, a novelist who solved crimes with a magnifying glass and encyclopedic knowledge of forensics and the underworld. Debbie, author of Murder & Matchmaking and Mansfield with Monsters (which she co-wrote with her husband, Matt) tells us why she loves mashups, or, as she likes to call them, “literary matchmaking”. Read her article here. An excerpt from In the Neighbourhood of Fame by Bridget van der Zijpp The trappings of fame, the power of social media and dysfunctional relationships play out in Bridget van der Zjipp’s vivid new novel In the Neighbourhood of Fame. The novel is centred around rock musician Jed Jordan, whose song ‘Captain of the Rules’ made him famous over ten years ago. Jed’s story is told by three female narrators, each with a different take on his fame: his childhood friend who is caught up in a long-held sense of admiration for him; his theatre manager wife who is frustrated with his drifting; and the 15-year-old who meets him in the dog park and finds that when she talks about him people are interested. In the Neighbourhood of Fame is Bridget’s second novel. Her first novel, Misconduct, was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Best First Book Prize and for the 2009 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Best First Book of Fiction. She lives in Auckland. We introduce an excerpt from In the Neighbourhood of Fame with a few questions for author Bridget van der Zijpp here. Dunedin thrilled to be an international city of literature With the New Zealand Young Writers Festival kicking off tonight, and the hugely successful Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival last month, Dunedin has made a fantastic beginning as a UNESCO city of literature. Neville Peat, a Dunedin author and city councillor, was involved in the planning for the UNESCO City of Literature application. He shares his thoughts on the bid process and why Dunedin was such an important choice here. More