1113 quotes by new zealander authors for you to enjoy

I believe really strongly in imitation, actually: I think it's the first place you need to go to if you're going to be able to understand how something works. True mimicry is actually quite difficult. Eleanor Catton

In my experience, and that of a lot of other women writers, all of the questions coming at them from interviewers tend to be about how lucky they are to be where they are - about luck and identity and how the idea struck them. Eleanor Catton

Women Experience Luck Other About Struck Tend Writers Idea Identity How Coming Lot Questions Women Writers Where Them Lucky

The ability of humans to read meaning into patterns is the most defining characteristic we have. Eleanor Catton

Defining Characteristic Ability Most Read Patterns Meaning Humans

I really wanted to write an adventure story, a murder-mystery that was set during the gold-rush years in New Zealand. Eleanor Catton

Write Adventure New Years Wanted New Zealand Story Really Zealand Set

Any description of a person that comes from the outside is very hard to deal with. People don't like being summarised. It's nice to receive a compliment, but it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. Eleanor Catton

Me People Nice Bit Compliment Uncomfortable Outside Feel Like Deal Makes Very Person Any Being Hard Description Receive

There are so many ways of posturing that people associate with being a writer. They imagine you wearing a beret and drinking only red wine and being full of yourself, and so, for a long time, the way I felt about writing was too private. I felt it too important and didn't want to be teased about it. So I lied about it. Eleanor Catton

Time You Yourself People Writing Wine Long Drinking Long Time Important Too Way Ways Lied Wearing About Only Writer Red Red Wine Felt Private Being Want Full Many Teased Associate Imagine

I much prefer a plotted novel to a novel that is really conceptual. Eleanor Catton

Conceptual Prefer Much Really Novel

Is the prestige conferred by the Man Booker prize for the book or me? I would prefer it on the book and for me to be treated ordinarily. Eleanor Catton

Me Man Book Prestige Would Prize Conferred Ordinarily Prefer Treated

Teaching is a great complement to writing. It's very social and gets you out of your own head. It's also very optimistic. It renews itself every year - it's a renewable resource. Eleanor Catton

Great You Writing Year Own Every Complement Resource Out Head Also Renewable Itself Very Optimistic Gets Social Your Teaching

It seems pretentious to assume that we are not creatures of action. I think often it takes a situation of extreme absurdity, extreme action, to push us to the limits of what our character is, and to change us as people. Eleanor Catton

Character Change People Pretentious Situation Action Think Assume Our Extreme Seems Push Takes Absurdity Limits Often Us Creatures

My second novel, 'The Luminaries,' is set in the New Zealand gold rushes of the 1860s, though it's not really a historical novel in the conventional sense. So far, I've been describing it as 'an astrological murder mystery.' Eleanor Catton

Sense Though Mystery New Been Historical Gold Conventional New Zealand Far Really Describing Novel Zealand Second Set

My parents took me to the Bronte parsonage in England when I was a teenager. I had a fight with my mum, burst into tears, jumped over a stile and ran out into the moors. It felt very authentic: A moor really is an excellent place to have a temper tantrum. Eleanor Catton

I went to a state school in Christchurch, New Zealand, and then straight on to the University of Canterbury. But I worked part-time all the way through high school: first with a paper round, then at a fast-food outlet, a video store and a hardware store. Eleanor Catton

School First State Way Paper High High School Outlet Through Part-Time New Store New Zealand Canterbury Straight Video Then Worked Zealand Round Hardware Hardware Store University

Quotes by new zealander authors