Whangarei writer Michael Botur is appearing at this year’s NZ Book Festival on November 17, following the launch of his fifth short story collection.
True?, launched October 10, is Botur’s sixth book and comes on the back of two well-received 2017 indie publications, Moneyland and Lowlife.
Botur describes True? as “Sixteen stories of strippers, celebs, trysts, travel, virgins, Viagra, jail, journos, A-listers and Class A’s.” The genre is a branch of literary fiction known as ‘dirty realism.’
Auckland’s NZ Book Festival – now in its fifth year – is an annual event for independently published Kiwi authors to interact with other writers and publishing industry professionals.
Organised by children’s author Louise de Varga, the event features around 100 writers.
In the lead-up to the festival, Botur has been putting on creative writing workshops around Northland and Auckland. He’s also been blogging about the challenges of putting out an indie book on a shoestring budget.
Botur recently published an essay about the hits and near-misses of his indie marketing, including experiencing impostor syndrome and reaching the day of TRUE?’s book launch with the books still not ready for pickup. Other adventures on the road to publication included ruining his own garage wall to get the graffiti cover achieved as cheaply as possible, battling the winter weather to complete the cover photo shoot, and writing extra stories at the last minute so the collection could be marketed as containing ‘Sixteen stories.’
Botur ran a successful GiveALittle crowdfunding campaign this year in the lead-up to publication, with pre-sale donations covering much of the cost of the initial print run.
Botur will be performing readings from True? at Time Out Book Store in Mt Eden following the NZ Book Festival on November 17.
https://www.timeout.co.nz/upcoming-events/zcw9n8rr5pcnr9dmemkthl2r9p7c6x