Airini Beautrais is best known for her award-winning collection of short stories, Bug Week, in which her deadpan style delivers strangely intense and unexpected developments. In The Beautiful Afternoon, a book of personal essays, a similar method seems to be at play. Beautrais is conversational, discursive about her life and her research, yet there is nothing casual here. Deep, personal experiences are examined fearlessly, juxtaposed with forays into topics such as literature, the environment, religion, media, dance and gardens. Throughout, collisions of memory and thought reveal ideas that are nothing short of profound about life in our complicated world.
This story is from the April 6-11, 2024 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 6-11, 2024 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The rest is history
Rest - both sleep and non-sleep - is essential to help our overstressed bodies and minds repair themselves. But many of us remain in a constant state of 'fight, flight or freeze'.
Right and power
Israel is profiting financially and extending its global technological influence in response to the October 7 massacre, says investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein.
Dolphins be damned
Is SailGP's future in this country really under threat because of an at-risk marine mammal?
Orwellian irony
Our thinking about one of the 20th century's best-known writers is being challenged by the 'smelly little truths' Anna Funder uncovered about George Orwell's marriage.
The alchemist
Talent and a little magic have taken state-house kid Moses Mackay to the heights of Italian opera. He's coming back to sprinkle some of his gold dust around.
Good Lord, he was scandalous
Lord Byron still fascinates 200 years after his death, but more for his bohemian lifestyle than his poetry.
Stars in their eyes
Debut novel a heady mix of grief, astronomy and love.
Dark matter
Ngaio Marsh-style whodunnit set among academia attached to the Mt John Observatory.
Mirren's mirror on Meir
Dame Helen talks about playing Golda Meir, Israel's iron lady, during a pivotal chapter in the controversial politician's long career.
Game, set and match
Love, sex and great tennis take centre court in this highly charged drama.
