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IN COVERSATION WITH…
DAMIEN WILKINS: ‘Most of us are in the army of the bereaved’
14th August, 2025
Delirious is the dazzling 14th novel by Damien Wilkins. Dedicated to his late sister, Miriam, it’s an achingly beautiful – and often very funny – exploration of love and loss. The central characters, Mary and Pete, have lost their only son, Will, who was just a boy and are about to move into a rest home. Delirious won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham NZ Book Awards this year. Wilkins is the director of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington and he talks with Sarah Daniell about invention, reality, shopping malls, Rhythm and Alps, why anyone should do a writing course, and why no one should ever say ‘move on’.