Talk in Wellington on Wednesday 1 April

Four men and a dog in the Denniston Hotel on the West Coast. The original caption read, 'Some find their recreation in the pubs where beer is the staple drink'. Photo: Te Ara

But the beer stopped flowing in 1947 when coasters banded together in an act of consumer solidarity that has been described as the country’s most successful consumer boycott.

On Wednesday Scoop Review of Books reviewer and author Simon Nathan will be giving a talk in Wellington on the history of the West Coast and in particular the little remembered Greymouth Beer Boycott which saw coasters forego their daily jug in protest at the local hoteliers’ decision to increase their prices in a cartel-like fashion.

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Victoria University’s Stout Research Centre is hosting an international conference on the relevance of nationalism in today’s literature later this week.

Conference organiser Professor Lydia Wevers says cultural nationalism has been at the centre of literary history in New Zealand, as in other literatures. Read more »

Fifty years ago, Günter Grass’s novel Die Blechtrommel hit the headlines, signalling the arrival of a brilliant new talent who would go on to become a Nobel Prize winner (1999).

Translated into a number of languages, The Tin Drum has become one of the best-known works of contemporary German literature. Now, as part of world-wide celebrations of the book’s half-century, a new English translation by Breon Mitchell is to appear in 2009. Read more »

Five more funny, fast and furious scripts by MA (Script) writers from the IIML are delivered in rehearsed readings. Chaired by Ken Duncum.

Writers on Mondays is presented by the International Institute of Modern Letters in partnership with the National Library of New Zealand.
These events take place at 1-2pm, at the National Library Auditorium.
They are open to the public and free of charge.

22 September: Short/Sharp/Script (1)
One hour, five different dramas: actors perform rehearsed readings of work produced by MA (Script) students at the Institute of Modern Letters. Chaired by Ken Duncum. Read more »

15 September: The Next Page (2)
Readings by another ten MA (Page) students from the IIML to surprise and delight you: Kathy McVey, Alison Glenny, Rachel O’Neill, Charis Boos, Maria Belich, Sylvie Haisman, Paul Dagarin, Rachael Cookson, Kelly Joseph and Alex Keeble will read, introduced by Kate Duignan.

Writers on Mondays is presented by the International Institute of Modern Letters in partnership with the National Library of New Zealand.
These events take place at 1-2pm, at the National Library Auditorium.
They are open to the public and free of charge.