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Otago Daily Times
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Recognition of work overwhelming, ‘affirming' for poet
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry winner Emma Neale, of Dunedin, at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards on Wednesday night in Auckland. Photo: supplied A Dunedin author was overwhelmed by the recognition her book received at the country's top literature awards night. Editor, novelist and poet Emma Neale won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in Auckland on Wednesday night. She said she felt calm on the night but later when she was talking to her husband about it she found herself getting quite teary. "It's been very affirming." Mrs Neale said it was nice to be recognised by the judges who she admired quite a bit. "To think that they've been reading your own work so closely has been just such a gift." Mrs Neale had been writing books since the 1990s and did not expect Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit to be the book that won her an award. Her poems were personal — one took about 30 years to write — and it was a joy for her to see so many people connect with her work. "The connection is similar to having a wonderful conversation with someone." She said the poem took her some time to write because she was learning to craft it in a way that was not too heavy-handed for the reader.
Otago Daily Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Dunedin author wins top award for her poetry
Emma Neale. Photo: supplied A Dunedin author has been honoured at the country's biggest literary arts awards. Editor, novelist and poet Emma Neale won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in Auckland last night. Poetry category convener of judges David Eggleton said the collection of poems displayed an exceptional ability to turn confessional anecdotes into "quicksilvery flashes of insight". "Emma Neale is a writer fantastically sensitive to figurative language and its possibilities," he said. Her book was about fibs, fables and telling true stories, which were perceived by others as tall stories and the knock-on or flow-on effects of distrust — the scales dropping from one's eyes. Mr Eggleton said it was about power and a sense of powerlessness, belief and the loss of belief, about trust and disillusion, disenchantment with fairytales and compassion. The book, published by the Otago University Press, was nominated for the award alongside Hopurangi — Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka, by Robert Sullivan; In the Half Light of a Dying Day, by C.K. Stead; and Slender Volumes, by Richard von Sturmer. Neale had told the Otago Daily Times being shortlisted felt like an award in itself, feeling that the judges had read her work and seen merit in it was "really, really gratifying". — APL
NZ Herald
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards: Damien Wilkins' Delirious wins fiction prize
The Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry went to novelist and poet Emma Neale for her seventh collection Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit. Alongside the four major category winners, four best first books (sponsored by the Mātātuhi Foundation) were recognised. Michelle Rahurahu (Ngāti Rahurahu, Ngāti Tahu–Ngāti Whaoa) took the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction with her novel Poorhara, while the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry went to Manuali'I by Rex Letoa Paget (Samoan/Danish). Kirsty Baker's Sight Lines: Women and Art in Aotearoa won the Judith Binney Prize for Illustrated Non-Fiction, and Una Cruickshank's The Chthonic Cycle was awarded the E.H. McCormick Prize for General Non-Fiction. Across the eight winning books celebrated at a ceremony held on Wednesday night at Auckland's Aotea Centre, three were published by Te Herenga Waka University Press, two by Auckland University Press and one each by Otago University Press, Saufo'i Press and HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand. For Damien Wilkins, selected from a fiction prize shortlist that included Laurence Fearnley, Kirsty Gunn and Tina Makeriti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā), it was his second win. The now director of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University first took the fiction award in 1994 with The Miserables. He was a runner-up in 2001 for Nineteen Windows Under Ash and again in 2007 for The Fainter. Delirious, his 14th published book, was described as intimate, funny and honest by Thom Conroy, fiction category judges convenor. 'An absorbing, inspiring novel and a damn fine read,' said Conroy. 'What stood out ... was the assured but understated touch of prose as it flows elegantly across the decades, threads the intricacies of relationship, and fathoms the ongoing evolution of a couple's grief.' Toi te Mana by Deidre Brown and Ngarino Ellis with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, was dedicated to the latter, who died after work on the book began. The comprehensive survey of Māori art – from voyaging waka to the contemporary – was 'extensively researched and thoughtfully written, casting a wide inclusive net', said Chris Szekely, illustrated non-fiction judges convenor. Szekely congratulated art historians Brown and Ellis 'for carrying the baton to completion, a Herculean task akin to the mahi of Maui himself'. Holly Walker, judges convenor for the general non-fiction award said Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku's Hine Toa was both a personal testimony and taonga – a book that defied easy categorisation, moving from memoir to 'a fiery social and political history . . . from a vital queer, Māori, feminist perspective'. In the poetry category, judges convenor David Eggleton lauded Emma Neale's ability to 'turn confessional anecdotes into quicksilvery flashes of insight'. Her winning collection (from a shortlist that included one of the country's most well-known writers and former poet laureate C. K. Stead) was described as a book about fibs and fables 'and the knock-on or flow-on effects of distrust, the scales dropping from one's eyes'. The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards were established in 1968 (as the Wattie Book Awards). Last year's fiction prize also went to a repeat winner - Emily Perkins won in 2024 for Lioness and in 2009 for Novel About My Wife. Full list of Ockham winners and finalists: Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction won by Delirious, Damien Wilkins, Te Herenga Waka University Press. Shortlisted: At the Grand Glacier Hotel, Laurence Fearnley, Penguin, Penguin Random House; Pretty Ugly, Kirsty Gunn, Otago University Press; The Mires, Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā), Ultimo Press. Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry won by Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit, Emma Neale, Otago University Press. Shortlisted: Hopurangi – Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka, Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu), Auckland University Press; In the Half Light of a Dying Day, C.K. Stead, Auckland University Press; Slender Volumes, Richard von Sturmer, Spoor Books. BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction won by Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art, Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī), Auckland University Press. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. Shortlisted: Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist, Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson, Massey University Press; Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer, Athol McCredie, Te Papa Press; Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa, Matiu Baker (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whakaue), Katie Cooper, Michael Fitzgerald and Rebecca Rice, Te Papa Press. General Non-Fiction Award won by Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (Te Arawa, Tūhoe, Ngāpuhi, Waikato), HarperCollins Publishers Aotearoa New Zealand. Shortlisted: Bad Archive, Flora Feltham, Te Herenga Waka University Press; The Chthonic Cycle, Una Cruickshank, Te Herenga Waka University Press; The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation, Richard Shaw, Massey University Press.
The Guardian
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Spit review – David Wenham is superb as this goofy, good-natured crim
Punching up is a valuable rule of thumb for comedians. When it comes to film and TV, however, few would insist on a blanket rule that all gags should be directed towards people of higher status than the joke-makers. Doing so would rob us of some brilliant comic characters, including the greatest of all time: Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp. It'd also expunge from existence Johnny 'Spit' Spitieri, the bleary-eyed criminal and former heroin addict hilariously played by David Wenham, first in the 2003 Australian film Gettin' Square and now in his very own spin-off. This enjoyably low-key affair has occasional laugh-out-loud moments, including one that takes place in a courtroom – like Gettin' Square's funniest scene – where old mate Spit tests everybody's patience by trying on a series of reading glasses. By returning to the courtroom, the film risks becoming one of those 'play it again' comedy sequels – but in fact it works a treat. The equation is right up there with Pythagoras: Spit + irritable authorities seeking information = hilarity. The film begins with its shifty protagonist bumbling through Toowoomba airport, attempting to slip back into Australia on a false passport after spending many years overseas. But Spit is apprehended and plonked in an immigration detention centre, where a significant chunk of the first act takes place. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Initially, the humour involves this thoroughly dopey and unthreatening muttonhead upsetting powerful people on both sides of the law when they learn of his return. The police want to use this 'criminal mastermind' to return to a long-dormant case and deliver justice, while the criminals – including David Field's crooked cop Arne and Gary Sweet's kingpin Chicka – are sweating bullets, worried he'll incriminate them. The comedy gets edgier when director Jonathan Teplitzky enters the horrors of immigration detention centres. Spit counsels detainees on how to speak 'proper' Aussie English: 'fuck yeah, 'shit hot', et cetera. Spit, we're reminded, is essentially good-natured. Things get a bit contrived – calibrated to pluck heart strings – when he's reacquainted with his family, including his sister Julie (Sofya Gollan). I love the idea of a supporting character so great at stealing the show that they're graduated into lead status. But I also appreciated, in Gettin' Square, the ambiguity of not knowing who this Spit guy really was and what unusual plane of existence he drifted in from. By filling in his backstory, something has been lost, and the film-makers insist a little too much that he's a fundamentally decent person. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Spit still feels like a real character, however, largely thanks to Wenham's superb performance. I love that discombobulated expression on his face – the look of a man forever struggling to compute. Wenham brings his whole body into it: he's hunched over and weirdly postured, as if literally bent out of shape, and strolls around with a funny swagger, sometimes almost literally dancing to his own beat. When Teplitzky focuses on sight gags, such as Spit walking up a downwards escalator or running away from goons, you can sense his grip on the material getting wobblier. The director seems to be feeling his way through these moments, hoping audiences will find this silly fellow funny. They most likely will – I know I did – but, tempo and energy-wise, the film doesn't quite get where it wants to be; it lacks pop and spark. Some of the funniest moments come arguably in defiance of punching up, when Spit's responses clearly stem from his class and social circumstances. In one very amusing scene, for instance, he preposterously defends his criminal history on the grounds that the drugs he's previously dealt – marijuana and heroin – are 'natural' products, not like those nasty amphetamines and ecstasy tablets. Is the joke on him? Sort of. But we come away from the film loving Spit, and it's clear the film-makers do too. Spit is in Australian cinemas now
The Guardian
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
David Wenham on the return of Johnny ‘Spit' Spitieri: ‘Every second day someone comes up to talk about him'
David Wenham avoided wearing thongs for 22 years. That's ever since an iconic scene in the 2003 heist caper Gettin' Square, in which he slapped his way down a suburban street in thongs and leopard-skin briefs, on the run from cops. If you've ever tried running in thongs, you'll appreciate the lasting limping. 'I probably would have done that more than 50 times. Jonathan likes many takes,' Wenham says of the film-maker Jonathan Teplitzky. The scene made Johnny 'Spit' Spitieri the most endearing and memorable character in Gettin' Square, despite hot young talent Sam Worthington playing the central protagonist, Barry. Now everyone's favourite heroin addict is back for a sequel, Spit: while his straggly mullet is now balding on top, the too-short shorts are familiar (Wenham sourced Spit's wardrobe from the women and children's sections of op shops). And though Spit's now off the gear, he still has to do the odd runner. Gettin' Square only made $2.1m at the box office, but went gangbusters on video and DVD, says Wenham, who won an Australian Film Institute award for best actor for his performance: 'One of the major reasons I agreed to come back was at least every second day I have someone coming up to me and talking about the character. The amount of people who've seen it is quite incredible.' There are other returning actors – David Field as crooked cop Arne Deviers; Gary Sweet as gangster Chicka Martin; Helen Thomson as Marion Barrington – and the Gold Coast, once again, is its own gaudy character. Teplitzky is back at the helm and many of the same crew have returned, which Wenham says created a school-camp feel, particularly when they bunkered down for weeks at the Covid quarantine centre at Toowoomba, which stands in for an immigration detention centre. The shoot 'was one of the happiest creative periods I've encountered', Wenham says. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning This time, Spit is unofficially running an English language program at the detention centre, having re-entered Australia on a false passport after skipping town at the end of the first film. He has other personal dramas to deal with – punctuated by a cold sore that appears on his lip whenever he's stressed – but finds the time to be a mate to the refugees he's inside with. 'He's genuinely an unjudgmental character,' Wenham says of Spit. 'He takes everybody on face value, irrespective of who they are. I think that's a pretty fabulous characteristic.' The first time he read the Gettin' Square script, he could hear Spit's voice and see the rhythm of his movements. 'I lived in and around Kings Cross for nearly 30 years, so I'd seen many characters like Johnny Spitieri,' he says. But the character was created by Chris Nyst, a criminal lawyer who wrote both the films and a bunch of crime novels besides. In his mind, Spit has street smarts and plays everything by his own rules: 'People in the criminal milieu do tend to be aspirational people, in the sense that they want a real life, but they don't want to work 20 years to get there. They want to cut corners, and in that sense, we can probably all identify with people like Johnny Spit at some level.' Spit reminds Nyst of some of the Aussie battlers he's had as clients, but also Norman Gunston, the artless character played by Garry McDonald in The Aunty Jack Show, who interviewed and irritated celebrities. Nyst is the man responsible for the ingenious dialogue that is the cornerstone of both films. If you saw Gettin' Square you may remember Timothy Spall's character's calorific point system of booze, or the ridiculous coded conversation that Spit has about double-scoop vanilla ice-cream when he's trying to sell drugs. Then there's the infamous courtroom scene where Spit stymies the stiff proceedings with his whining insistence that he must be provided the $20 bus fare home. 'When I first was writing my novels, if somebody said something I would often write it down on a little piece of paper and put it in my wallet,' Nyst admits. 'Your old-time Sydney and Melbourne crooks did have a great turn of phrase and some old Aussie sayings that they used to death.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Nyst was obsessed with movies as a teenager but his father convinced him to be a lawyer; his dad's case being helped by the fact that Perry Mason was big on TV at the time. Sometimes his father would take him to the criminal courts for a day out, and Nyst greatly appreciated the theatre of it. His father was born and bred in France and spoke many languages, but growing up in postwar Australia, Nyst and his brothers were keen to adopt as many Australianisms as possible. Having this upbringing gave him the impetus to make Spit a commentary on the debate around immigration. 'There was a lot of negativity around immigration and that seemed crazy to me, particularly because we're pretty much all immigrants in this country,' he says. 'It seemed unfortunate that it was being made a political football, particularly given our national ethos of mateship and egalitarianism. I wanted to find a non-abrasive context to remind people of Australian values.' Wenham admits to being 'slightly nervous' when he initially read the script. The well-meaning Spit changes the name of Jihad (played by Arlo Green) to Jarod, and teaches the inmates how to integrate, real Aussie style. 'The majority of the people who played the inmates are either refugees or offspring of refugees,' says Wenham, who sat in on the casting sessions with Teplitzky. 'The surprising thing for me about this particular storyline was the actors themselves completely embraced the way that those characters were being portrayed … They said, for the first time, we're not just portrayed as refugees. Some of them felt frustrated that in many depictions in cinema and in literary pieces, they're deified – that's the word they used.' Whereas Gettin' Square was dead-set comedy, Spit has more gravitas. Wenham says the modus operandi was to make a film with more layers: 'It will hopefully have you leaving the cinema with a big smile on your face and some faith in humanity.' Q&A preview screenings of Spit are being held around the country now; see here for dates. Spit is out in Australian cinemas from 6 March
