International Authors Book Club

Read an author of your choosing from a predetermined country. March's nation is New Zealand.

We will meet each third Thursday of the month to discuss your author, their works, and any themes they explore. 

To get you started, check out our list of a few contemporary and literary award-winning authors. The titles, a combination of fiction and nonfiction, are available through your Santa Fe Public Library as books or (if noted) ebooks (Hoopla or Overdrive/Libby).

Suggested authors:

Eleanor Catton, author of Birnam Wood, The Luminaries and The Rehearsal

Catton is the author of three novels, including The Luminaries, the 2013 Man Booker Prize winner, making her the youngest person (born 1985) to win the award at the time.

Catton’s novels are known for their intricate plots, their lush prose, and their exploration of complex themes. 

Catherine Chidgey, author of The Axeman’s Carnival, Golden Deeds, In a Fishbone Church and Pet

Her first novel, In a Fishbone Church, was published in 1999 and won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and at the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Her second novel, Golden Deeds, was a 2002 Best Book in the La Times Book Review and a 2002 Notable Book in the New York Times Book Review. 

Alan Duff, author of Jake’s Long Shadow, Once Were Warriors, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

Duff is best known for his novel Once Were Warriors (1990), which was adapted into a successful film available through SFPL. Duff’s novels often deal with the lives of Māori people in New Zealand, and they are known for their raw and unflinching portrayal of poverty, violence, and addiction. Duff’s work has been praised for its honesty and its social commentary while his political commentary has led to some controversy.

Maurice Duggan, author of the short story collections Immanuel’s Land, O’Leary’s Orchard and Summer in the Gravel Pit

After losing his job due to his alcoholism, Duggan was taken under Frank Sargeson’s wing and soon developed into a noted short story writer.

His story “Six Place Names and a Girl,” to which Sargeson contributed the title, featured a minimalist plot and brief, evocative descriptions of the Hauraki Plains. In the early 1960s, Duggan published the influential  “Riley’s Handbook” and “Along Rideout Road that Summer,” which moved New Zealand literature away from its long-dominant tradition of social realism.

Patrick Evans, author of Back of His Head, Bluffworld, Gifted and Salt Picnic

Considered his best work, Gifted is a fictionalized account of the relationship between “The Father of New Zealand Fiction” Frank Sargeson and writer Janet Frame.  

Janet Frame, author of The Adaptable Man, Between My Father and the King: Stories, The Carpathians, Daughter Buffalo, Prizes: Selected Stories, The Rainbirds, and Toward Another Summer

Frame’s novels are characterized by their lyrical prose, their exploration of psychological themes, and their focus on the individual’s experience of alienation and isolation. She won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1965, 1968, and 1988 and she was awarded the Order of New Zealand in 1983.

Maurice Gee, author of The Burning Boy, The Man Who Loved Children, and Pig Earth

Known for his realistic and often disturbing portrayals of human nature, Gee’s novels often explore themes of violence, alienation, and the dark side of the human psyche. His work is characterized by its intelligence, its wit, and its unflinching honesty. He was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1994 and the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in 2007. 

Patricia Grace, author of Aotearoa, The Dream Sleepers, Mahu, and Potiki

Grace is a novelist, short story writer, and children’s writer considered one of the most important Māori writers in New Zealand. Her work is known for its lyrical prose, its strong female characters, and its exploration of Māori culture and identity.

Grace’s first novel, Mahu, was published in 1971. It was followed by Potiki (1986), which won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction. She is a recipient of the Order of New Zealand, the country’s highest civilian honor. 

Kirsty Gunn, author of The Big Music, Featherstone and Pretty Ugly (eaudiobook)

Gunn is the author of several internationally acclaimed works of fiction, most recently the story collection This Place You Return to Is Home. Her first novel, Rain, was made into a feature film that was an official selection in 2002 at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. She lives in London.

Whiti Hereaka, author of Bugs, The Graphologist’s Apprentice and Legacy

The playwright, novelist and screenwriter (and barrister and solicitor) has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won children’s or Young Adult awards, notably Bugs and Pūrākau, a 2019 anthology of Māori mythology.

Keri Hulme, author of The Bone People, The Silence Between and Strands

Hulme is best known for The Bone People, which won the Man Booker Prize in 1985. Her novels are characterized by their lyrical prose, their exploration of Māori mythology and culture, and their challenging of traditional notions of identity and belonging.

Witi Ihimaera, author of The Matriarch, The New Net Goes Fishing, Pounamu, Pounamu; The Uncle’s Story and The Whale Rider

Ihimaera's work is credited with bringing Māori culture to a wider audience. His novels often explore the intersection of Māori and Pakeha (European) cultures, and they often feature strong females.

His work has been translated into many languages, and he has won numerous awards, including the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction and the Wattie Book of the Year Award. He is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Elizabeth Knox, author of The Absolute Book, The Changeling, Daylight, The Vintner’s Luck, and The Water of High Noon

Knox’s work is known for its lush prose, its complex characters, and its exploration of themes such as magic, history, and identity.

She is a recipient of the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction, the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction, and the Wattie Book of the Year Award. An example of her work appears in Steampunk: an anthology of fantastically rich and strange stories.

Katherine Mansfield, author of In a German Pension, with numerous collections such as The Katherine Mansfield Megapack: 101 Classic Works; Bliss, and Other Stories (all ebooks)

The acclaimed short story writer’s work is characterized by its psychological insights, its use of symbolism, and its exploration of the inner lives of her characters.

Mansfield died of tuberculosis at the age of 34 in 1923, but her work has had a lasting influence on the development of the short story with her works still widely read today.

Ngaio Marsh, author of the Inspector Roderick Alleyn series -- 11 books, 17 ebooks available through SFPL

Marsh’s work is known for its elegant prose, its complex characters, detail and clever plots.

Considered one of Agatha Christie’s peers during the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction,” she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966 and received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1968.

Owen Marshall, author of Carnival Sky, Harlequin Rex, The Larnachs, Love as a Stranger Vintage, Pearly Gates and numerous short-story and poetry collections

The writer, novelist, poet and editor taught at a boys’ high school for 25 years before becoming a full-time writer. He writes about lower middle-class New Zealanders in small-town or rural settings reflecting their psychological background. His most well-known work is The Larnachs.

His work appears in Six by Six: Short Stories by New Zealand’s Best Writers (ebook), as does Maurice Duggan, Janet Frame, Patricia Grace, Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson.

Rebecca K. Reilly, author of Greta & Valdin (book and ebook)

Valdin is still in love with his ex-boyfriend Xabi, who used to drive around Auckland in a ute (short for utility vehicle, a car with a pickup truck bed) but now drives around Buenos Aires in one. Greta is in love with her fellow English tutor Holly, who doesn't know how to pronounce Greta's surname, Vladislavljevic, properly. From their Auckland apartment, brother and sister must navigate the intricate paths of modern romance as well as weather the small storms of their eccentric Māori-Russian-Catalonian family.

Frank Sargeson (Norris Frank Davey), author of Conversations with My Uncle and Other Stories, A Man and his Wife and That Summer and Other Stories

Sargeson, whose law career ended in the 1920s after being convicted of “indecent assault for a homosexual encounter,” adopted his pen name of Sargeson (mother’s maiden name) and wrote short stories and novels focusing on unhappy and isolated male characters.

Writing in a sparse style, the tuberculosis survivor is credited with introducing everyday New Zealand English into literature and for championing numerous writers early in their careers, including Janet Frame. After inheriting his uncle’s farm, he took the "odds-and-ends kind of people I tend naturally to cherish and try to comfort," giving a generation of New Zealand writers their start.

His work appears in Six by Six: Short Stories by New Zealand’s Best Writers (ebook), as does Maurice Duggan, Janet Frame, Patricia Grace, Katherine Mansfield and Owen Marshall.

C.K. Stead, author of The Name on the Door Is Not Mine (ebook), Smith’s Dream and The Singing Whakapapa

Stead is a critic, editor, poet, novelist, and educator responsible for numerous collections of poetry, short stories, novels and literary criticism. He received a New Zealand Book Award in Poetry in 1976 for Quesada and a New Zealand Book Award in Fiction for The Singing Whakapapa in 1995. He is the only person to have won the New Zealand Book Award for both poetry and fiction.

Damien Wilkins, author of Dad Art, Delirious and Lifting (all ebooks)

Considered his finest work, Delirious is about a retired couple selling their beloved house. It should be a clean break, but it's as if the people they have lost keep returning to ask new things of them. A local detective calls with new information about the case of their son, Will, who was killed in an accident 40 years before.

Mary finds herself drawn to consider her older sister's shortened life. Pete is increasingly haunted by memories of his late mother, who developed delirium and never recovered. How to care for others? How to meet the new versions of ourselves who might arrive? How to cope? Delirious is also about the surprising ways second chances come around.

For accommodations such as translations, ASL interpreters, or disability needs, please email library@santafenm.gov or call 505-955-6781.