Catherine Chidgey: The Starving Bride
Presented by Verb Wellington
Described by the 2026 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate panel as "without a doubt one of New Zealand's most important living writers", internationally bestselling author Catherine Chidgey returns to Verb to discuss her tenth enthralling novel. The Starving Bride is an urgent and searing story set in near-future England.
Dumped by her boyfriend, fired from her job and estranged from her parents, Hazel Whitlock signs up for a sideshow act in Blackpool. The seaside resort has revived all the cancelled old favourites and she will be the Starving Bride. On display in the iconic Blackpool Tower, with a ravenous lion prowling the enclosure, Hazel must lie in silence while strangers view her body.
Join Catherine and Kate Camp for a special one-night event as they discuss the many layers of The Starving Bride, writing female experiences and the questions the book raises about spectacle, desire, survival and society's obsession with beauty.
Unity Books will be at the event bookselling, and Catherine will be book signing.
Cover artwork by Max Thompson. Cover design by Todd Atticus. Author photo by Ebony Lamb.
6pm Sunday 29 November 2026
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