Past Lives

‘Biographies,’ said Mark Twain, ‘are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.’

 Is it really possible to get inside someone else’s life and emotions? How far should a biographer go? What can and should be revealed? Jeffrey Paparoa Holman (biographer of anthropologist Elsdon Best), Kathleen Jones (biographer of Katherine Mansfield) and Paul Millar (biographer of New Zealand writer Bill Pearson) discuss the writing of past lives.

Jeffrey Paparoa Holman is an award-winning poet, freelance writer and creative writing tutor who spent his years mostly on the West Coast. His colourful career path has taken him to sawmills, shearing gangs, social work, bookselling and, since 1997, a return to mid-life study: he graduated with a PhD in Maori Studies in 2007. His interest in te reo Maori and Maori studies, and a post-graduate honours degree in English, led him to his thesis topic, the  writings of Elsdon Best on Maori spirituality. His book, Best of Both Worlds: The Story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau is recently published.

Kathleen Jones’s latest work is Katherine Mansfield: The Story-teller, the first biography for 25 years of New Zealand’s most famous writer. Her published work includes radio journalism, articles for magazines and newspapers, short fiction and eleven books, including biographies of Margaret Forster, Catherine Cookson and Christina Rossetti.

Paul Millar is Associate Professor of English in the School of Humanities at the University of Canterbury, with research interests in New Zealand, Australian and Pacific literature. He has published a number of books on New Zealand literature including Spark to a Waiting Fuse and the Selected Poems of James K Baxter. He was a founding board member of the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre and convening judge in the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. He received a Copyright Licensing Limited Writers’ Award to research and write No Fretful Sleeper. 

Chair: Geoff Walker is the Publishing Director of Penguin Books New Zealand.