Wellington wordsmiths mash it up

Wellington authors Damien Wilkins and Elizabeth Knox have been nominated for the 2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Their novels, Chemistry and Billie’s Kiss, are both in the running for a NZ$196,000 prize, whose previous winners include David Malouf, Michel Houellebecq, and Orhan Pamuk. Chemistry – Wilkins’ tale of drug addiction and dysfunctional families in small-town NZ – was recently praised in the Guardian. “Addiction and its results saturate this powerful novel, even as Wilkins strips his characters bare […] Like an Antipodean A.M Homes, Wilkins describes the grimmer side of suburban life in an utterly modern telling that is as truthful as it is poignant.” Meanwhile Knox’s award-winning The Vintner’s Luck is to be released in translation by French publishing house, Le fil invisible, as part of a series promoting Down Under authors.