Walking with McCahon a 2013 Favourite

New Zealand author Martin Edmonds’s novel In Dark Night: Walking With McCahon is included in the Australian’s annual book of the year wrap-up, in which Australian and international authors and critics reveal their favourite reads of the past 12 months.

Sydney author Gabrielle Carey writes:

“One day in 1984, while awaiting the opening of a major retrospective of his work, New Zealand-born artist Colin McCahon mysteriously disappeared from the palm grove in Sydney’s Botanic Garden. He was found a day later in Centennial Park, his memory effectively erased.

“In Dark Night: Walking With McCahon, Edmond seeks to understand what happened to an acclaimed yet mysteriously disturbed artist whose work traces mysticism in a world of materialism. Through a series of journeys, the writer retraces the steps of the painter during that lost night. Along the way are insights into McCahon’s art and the history of Sydney, as well as an investigation into the human yearning and suffering that is endured in pursuit of an artistic vocation.”

Edmond is the son of writer Lauris Edmond. He received the 2013 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement. His book The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont was a finalist in the 2000 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.