Interview: Elizabeth Smither talks about Angel Train

Elizabeth Smither’s work has won numerous awards, including the NZ Book Award for Poetry and the Montana NZ Book Award for Poetry. Her stories and poems have been published in journals throughout NZ, Australia, the US, France and the UK.

Elizabeth Smither has published 19 collections of poetry, six collections of short stories and six novels, as well as journals and memoirs. Elizabeth talks to NZ Booklovers.

Tell us a little about Angel Train.

Four novellas about a literary friendship between two women poets; a Tasmanian highwayman and the DNA of righting wrongs; a fleeing French countess and a floundering marriage between an actor and a lover of hydrangeas; mysterious goings on at National Park.

What inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to write something longer than a short story and shorter than a novel.

What research was involved?

Timelines, quotations, background details.

What was your routine or process when writing this book?

250 scribbled words in a 1A8 exercise book every morning Monday to Friday.

If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.

The Beatles, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ for the poetry audiences in the North of England and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s ‘Les indes galantes’ (‘The Amorous Indies’) for the escaping countess.

What did you most enjoy about writing this collection?

The fun of not knowing where I was going.

Do you have a favourite novella?

‘Gigi’ by Colette.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

Champagne.

What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?

‘Lebanese Days’ by Theodore Ell (Atlantic, 2024). One of the best travel books ever. While his wife works as an Australian diplomat Ell explores an ancient country with the eye of a poet until the 2020 Beirut explosion sends them home.

What’s next on the agenda for you?

I want to write a commonplace book based on favourite quotations such as ‘If a lion could talk we could not understand him’.  (Ludwig Wittgenstein.)

Quentin Wilson Publishing