An Hour with Debra Adelaide

Sorry, this event’s been and gone

When:

Fri 15 May ’09, 3:00pm–4:00pm

Where: Lower NZI Room, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Dr, Auckland CBD Show map

Restrictions: All Ages

Ticket Information:

Standard: $19.50
Earlybird pre 13 may: $16.50
Friend pre 13 may: $15.50
Student : $9.75
Booking fees may apply

Website:

www.writersfestival.co.nz

Despite its less than upbeat title, Debra Adelaide’s novel The Household Guide to Dying is warm, witty, sad and deeply comforting. Heroine Delia Bennet is an irrepressible and sharply observant advice-columnist, who is dying of cancer. She is also the mother of two young daughters. Soon after her diagnosis she begins her last Guide, having already written those pertaining to the garden, the laundry and kitchen. The book is obviously not autobiographical – here is Debra still alive and kicking! – but Delia and Debra have a lot in common, most notably a passion for domestic life and an affection for chickens. Death has become a popular subject for baby-boomer writers – a cynic could say it’s the next thing on the list after sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. Debra Adelaide is in conversation with Stephanie Johnson.