If you are curious about how television has shaped Kiwi life since we first switched on in the 1960s then look no further than a WORD session with award-winning reviewer Diana Wichtel at The Piano in central Christchurch on 29 August.
She joins veteran journalist Steve Braunias for a conversation about her funny and nostalgic memoir, Unreel: A memoir. In her book she reflects and grapples with her life that began in Vancouver, Canada, with her Polish Holocaust survivor father and her Kiwi mother. The family moved to New Zealand when Wichtel was 13, leaving her father behind whom she never saw again.
From a young age the images emanating from the ubiquitous electronic box in many of our living rooms entranced her. This fascination has remained with her and in Unreel she presents a dizzying roll call of TV stars and characters such as Lucille Ball, Skippy, Dr Kildare, My Favourite Martian, Mary Tyler Moore, Callan, Hilda and Stan Ogden, Goofy, Tony Soprano and Fleabag. She also identifies Kiwi cultural signposts including Fred Dagg, Close to Home, Gloss, Telethons, Billy T. James, shoulder pads, irreverent news presenters Paul Holmes and Belinda Todd, Shortland Street, Ruthanasia, Children of the Dog Star, Ask Your Auntie and a small selection of 1980s Kiwi celebrities who fronted the idiosyncratically named "That's Fairly Interesting", a tongue-in-cheek response to United States' hyperbolic celebration, "That's Incredible".
Wichtel also digs into journalism and with her powerful recall, fearless wit, concise writing style and immigrant-Kiwi outsider-becomes-insider point of view delivers an entertaining and penetrating dive into contemporary Kiwi culture. Her unique yet cheerfully accessible perspective will be on show on 29 August and is nicely summed up by this quote from her book: "Television seemed like magic to me. It still does" (p.11).
Wichtel joined the New Zealand Listener in 1984 and received acclaim and criticism over a 36-year career as a television critic, profile writer and feature writer. Her family memoir, Driving to Treblinka, won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-fiction at the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Christchurch City Libraries' cardholders can access hard copies of The Listener at the library or electronically via the PressReader and OverDrive platforms. There are also copies of The Listener Bedside Book; note several editions are reference only.
Find more
- Quick questions with Diana Wichtel – WORD Christchurch Festival 2025
- Books on television in New Zealand.
- Books on television.
Make your own picks of the festival - check the programme online or pick up a printed copy from your library.
- WORD Christchurch website
- Follow WORD Christchurch on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
- Our WORD Christchurch 2025 page - Find books by writers coming to this year's festival
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