Eleanor Catton

Booker-prize winning New Zealand author Eleanor Catton will join BorderKitchen on March 24 to talk about her new novel, Birnam Wood. Catton shot to fame when her second novel The Luminaries won the Booker Prize in 2013, making the then 28-year-old one of the youngest winners of the prestigious prize. Now she returns with Birnam Wood, a gripping and unusual psychological thriller which immerses the reader in the world of a guerrilla gardening collective in New Zealand. The collective comes to the attention of a mysterious American billionaire when a landslide cuts off a remote farm, and both parties share a common interest in protecting the land. Exploring pertinent themes including environmental degradation, apocalyptic visions, and the human impulse to survive, Birnam Wood is a welcome return for this intriguing and versatile author.