The New Zealand Book Council is bringing together experts and enthusiasts to discuss and dissect favourite writings on the war, from poetry and fiction to diaries and graphic novels.
With next year marking the 100 year anniversary of WWI, Victoria professors Harry Ricketts and Jane Stafford, together with poet Kate Camp and other guests, will present three evening events about WWI literature at the City Gallery Wellington.
Panellist Kate Camp believes war literature is a genre that appeals equally to men and women, young and old, pacifists and war nerds.
“The WWI Book Club is a chance to discover or revisit some of the great works from this ever-popular genre.”
An online readers’ hub with reading lists for the events, book recommendations, features and debate has already been launched: http://booknotes-unbound.org.nz/tag/world-war-one-book-club/.
The World War One Book Club is presented by the New Zealand Book Council with support from Victoria, and is hosted by City Gallery Wellington in association with their exhibition Chris Marker, Owls at Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men.
To find out more information about the World War One Book Club visit http://booknotes-unbound.org.nz/tag/world-war-one-book-club/.
The World War One Book Club
The war poets
Tuesday 26 August at 6pm
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?
Dispatches from the front
Tuesday 2 September at 6pm
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?
Great books about the Great War
Tuesday 9 September at 6pm
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.