Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker prize for The Luminaries, her success was widely celebrated in NZ. Interesting to get her perspective on NZ politics, and the current government. These comments were made at a literary festival in India and reported here in the Southland Times:
Eleanor Catton’s problem with New Zealand
Man Booker Prize author Eleanor Catton says she is uncomfortable being seen as an ambassador for New Zealand which she says is dominated by neo-liberal, profit-obsessed, shallow and money hungry politicians who do not care about culture.
…
“At the moment, New Zealand, like Australia and Canada, (is dominated by) these neo-liberal, profit-obsessed, very shallow, very money-hungry politicians who do not care about culture,” Catton is quoted saying.“They care about short-term gains. They would destroy the planet in order to be able to have the life they want. I feel very angry with my government.”
A challenge for the next government to be better than this.
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