Wendt's latest novel a decade in the making

Wendt's latest novel a decade in the making

The new novel Breaking Connections is the latest release from leading Pacific writer Albert Wendt.

Based in New Zealand and Hawaii, the story follows the lives of an urban tribe, a group of friends held together by shared lifetimes, love and fierce loyalty.

Having found their own successful paths they're abruptly brought back together by the violent death of Aaron, one of their own. Together they now must face a new crisis of revelations and truths that threatens to tear them apart.

The idea for this new novel had been percolating with Albert for several years. “I started writing Breaking Connections when we shifted to Hawaii in mid–2004 and have been working on it on and off since then. It eventually became a novel about a new type of urban family, a tribe of friends, set in Auckland from the 60s and 70s through to today.”

This new release tops off a busy couple of months for Albert with the release of his short memoir Out of the Vaipe, the Deadwater in September and then last week being appointed as the new patron for the New Zealand Book Council. “The New Zealand Book Council does marvellous work in encouraging, fostering, and promoting reading and books. I feel hugely privileged to have been asked by the Council to be its patron.”

And as for the next novel? Albert says that he has been painting while searching for his next inspiration. We're looking forward to it already!

Albert Wendt is one of New Zealand’s and the Pacific’s major writers. He has published numerous novels and collections of poetry and short stories, and he has edited several anthologies of Pacific writing.

He has been awarded many literary prizes, the most recent being the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the South East Asia and Pacific Region for his novel The Adventures of Vela and the 2012 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction. His many honours include the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2001), the Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture (2004) and the Order of New Zealand (2013).

To arrange an interview with Albert Wendt, please contact Bill Young at HUIA Publishers - bill.young@huia.co.nz.

ENDS

© Scoop Media