THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES
Charlotte Grimshaw + Josie Shapiro
Charlotte Grimshaw and Josie Shapiro discuss their latest novels, The Black Monk and Good Things Come and Go, in which they explore complex family dynamics, the lingering effects of grief and trauma, the urge to create art, and the dark shadow cast by addiction and secrets. Chaired by Kiran Dass.
In The Black Monk, Alice is not always a reliable narrator, as she grapples with denial, addiction and family secrets. Part psychological thriller, part family saga, this is a daring novel that examines the themes of the moment: shame, addiction, truth and the stories we tell to survive.
In Good Things Come and Go, which alternates between Alice’s, Riggs’ and Jamie’s point of view, each character gradually uncover truths about themselves and their relationships with each other, as they come to understand the need to relinquish their hold on the secrets they have carried for years.
In both books, the reader becomes complicit in the search for the truth.
Charlotte and Josie will discuss how they played with point of view to build tension and momentum in their stories.
Charlotte Grimshaw
Charlotte Grimshaw is the author of eleven critically acclaimed books to date, encompassing novels, short stories and memoir. She has won numerous literary awards, including the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award, the Frank O’Connor International Prize (twice), the Asia Pacific Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and several iterations of New Zealand’s national book awards. In 2021, her bestselling memoir The Mirror Book was published and was shortlisted for the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her novels The Night Book and Soon were adapted for the screen, becoming the hit TV series The Bad Seed.
Josie Shapiro
Josie Shapiro is a writer and reviewer living in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland, where she was awarded a Wallace Arts Scholarship for her work. Her writing has appeared in journals and anthologies, and she writes book reviews for the New Zealand Listener, the Academy of New Zealand Literature and Ketebooks.co.nz. In May 2023, her novel Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts was published by Allen & Unwin NZ after winning in inaugural Allen & Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize. Josie’s new novel, Good Things Come and Go, was published by Allen & Unwin in November 2025. Josie was a Sargeson Fellow in 2024 and was named one of the 2025 New Voices of Aotearoa.
Kiran Dass
Kiran Dass is a critic, writer and Programme Director at WORD Christchurch. She has written about music, books and culture for the New Zealand Herald, the Guardian, North & South, The Spinoff, Pantograph Punch, the Sunday Star-Times and many more. Kiran also reviews books regularly on RNZ’s Nine to Noon. ‘
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