Scottish Author Damian Barr is our guest on bookmarks.
His acclaimed memoir Maggie and Me was about growing up gay in a Britain ruled by Margaret Thatcher, and runs a popular literary salon in London.
He recently spent 3 months in New Zealand as part of Otago University's Scottish writers fellowship.
A social media post he made about his impressions of New Zealand hit the national headlines, mainly because after such a short time, he had this country pretty well sussed.
I’ve been in NZ for three months now and these are some of the things I want to share. 1) NZ is not Australia.2) NZ really is not Australia. There’s nothing poisonous here except a few members of New Zealand First & @jacindaardern has them fairly under control.3) NZ ? is delish
— Damian Barr (@Damian_Barr) April 7, 2018
Damian Barr with Jesse Mulligan Photo: RNZ