World War One Book Club – Explore the legacy of World War One in literature
World War One fever is spreading in New Zealand, causing everything from traffic congestion to a rash of poppy lapel badges. But among the history, the geography and the hagiography, what is the place for the literature of the Great War? The New Zealand Book Council, with support from the Victoria University of Wellington, explores the legacy of WWI literature in the World War One Book Club.
Kate Camp, Harry Ricketts, Jane Stafford and special guests will discuss and dissect the powerful books and writing of World War One at three Tuesday evening panel events.
The World War One Book Club discussion starts early on the New Zealand Book Council’s online readers’ hub with reading lists for the events, book recommendations, features and debate: www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz<http://www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz>.
Event 1: World War One book club – The war poets Tuesday 26 August, 6pm, at City Gallery Wellington (free admission) With Kate Camp, Harry Ricketts, Jane Stafford and guest Dave Armstrong A lively discussion exploring the power and appeal of the war poets. Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and their contemporaries began as radical debunkers, but have they become comfortable clichés of war?
Event 2: World War One book club – Dispatches from the front Tuesday 2 September, 6pm, at City Gallery Wellington (free admission) With Kate Camp, Harry Ricketts, Jane Stafford and guest Kate Hunter A freewheeling look at literature from the front lines, including All Quiet on the Western Front, Testament of Youth, and We Shall Not Cease. What makes the accounts of soldiers, nurses and pacifists more than mere diaries? And how did a German novel become the most influential account of fighting in World War One?
Event 3: World War One book club – Great books about the Great War Tuesday 9 September, 6pm, at City Gallery Wellington (free admission) With Kate Camp, Harry Ricketts, Jane Stafford and guest Matt Elliott In recent years World War One has been the subject of graphic novels, children’s books, film and theatre, as well as bestselling novels like Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy and Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong. The panel discusses personal favourites, and considers the enduring appeal of the Great War for great writers.
Visit www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz<http://www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz> to suggest questions and add to the reading list.
All events will take place on Tuesday evenings, 6pm, at City Gallery Wellington, Civic Square, 101 Wakefield St, Wellington.
The World War One Book Club is proudly presented by the New Zealand Book Council and Victoria University of Wellington, and is hosted by City Gallery Wellington in association with the exhibition Chris Marker, Owls at Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men.
About the panellists:
Kate Camp is a poet and broadcaster.
Harry Ricketts is a poet and biographer. His latest publication is How We Remember: New Zealanders and the First World War (Victoria University Press 2014).
Jane Stafford is a professor in the English programme at Victoria University of Wellington.
Dave Armstrong is a playwright and columnist for the Dominion Post.
Kate Hunter is Associate Professor in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science & International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington.
Matt Elliott is an historian and biographer, and the author of the graphic novel Nice Day for a War: Adventures of a Kiwi Soldier in World War I (HarperCollins NZ, 2011).
The panellists are available for media and interviews.
For further information about the World War One Book Club please visit www.bookcouncil.org.nz<http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz> and www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz<http://www.booknotes-unbound.org.nz>
For all other enquiries, please contact: New Zealand Book Council Communications Managers:
Rachel O’Neill
Email: Rachel@bookcouncil.org.nz<mailto:Rachel@bookcouncil.org.nz>
Phone: +64 4 801 5546
Catherine Cradwick
Email: CatherineC@bookcouncil.org.nz<mailto:CatherineC@bookcouncil.org.nz>
Phone: +64 4 801 5546
The New Zealand Historical Association 