My subversive and powerful critiques of our leaders have seen me banished to the Coromandel Peninsula. So here’s a repost of a 2013 effort, while I plan my escape.

Top Kiwi writer Eleanor Catton achieved a sensational victory in this year’s Man Booker tournament, and those who know her are saying she has the potential to be one of the sport’s true greats.

Eleanor Catton’s book The Luminaries has made it onto the Man Booker Prize shortlist for 2013. It is a splendid achievement, but she faces fierce competition for the top prize, including a book about a boy wizard, and a novel set in the dying days of Middle Earth’s Third Age.