Eleanor Catton

Join us for a reading group discussion of The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton!

Left Bank Books - Central West End

It is 1866, and young Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men who have men in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely ornate as the night sky.

Parking: Lots one block north and one block east; street parking (meters free after 7pm)

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Location: Street: Left Bank Books - Central West End Additional: 399 N. Euclid City: Saint Louis, Province: Missouri Postal Code: 63108 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

The New Zealand Book Council Lecture provides an opportunity for one of the country’s leading writers to discuss an aspect of literature close to their heart. This year, Eleanor Catton – author of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Luminaries – will take the stand. She will discuss “change” as a generative building-block that can reveal itself in fiction – as a change of heart, a change of mind or a change of state.
Join us for this fascinating talk by one of the finest young voices in writing today. (wifilibrarian)… (more)

Eleanor Catton’s second novel, The Luminaries, was the clear winner of 2013’s Man Booker Prize, a double coup given the book is more than 800 pages long and New Zealander Catton is only 28 years old.

The Luminaries has dazzled reviewers and literary judges alike with its energy, imagination and sheer originality. A Victorian style murder mystery set in gold rush era New Zealand, its twelve chapters are organised according to the star signs of its characters, and range from 300 to only two pages in length.

‘A true achievement,’ wrote the New York Times. ‘Catton has built a lively parody of a 19th-century novel, and in doing so created a novel for the 21st, something utterly new.’

Eleanor Catton will speak about writing an epic novel and what it’s like to win the world’s most famed literary prize. (rodneyvc)… (more)

Eleanor Catton reads from The Rehearsal.

Settle back this evening to hear seven fine writers read from their new works. There’s more than enough in store tonight to get you fired up on some riveting fiction by authors whose books may not have made it into your hands yet. Let these voices transport you to Italy and Vietnam. Get swept up in an extraordinary adventure to a remote area of British Columbia and thrown into the fray of two street gangs divided by race. Be turned around by the chaos of a high-school sex scandal and flung deep into the turmoil caused by an attack on a dark street. In other words, go places you’ve never been, feel things you’ve never felt, and come out changed. Tickets $19. (thebookpile)… (more)