Meet Gregor Paul
Gregor Paul is the author of Steve Hansen: The Legacy published by Harper Collins New Zealand
It's busy to be a father and to be a writer, on top of all the other things we are in life. Tell us how you fit writing into your day. How does parenthood play a role in your work?
As a journalist and author I am fortunate that writing is my day – I don’t have to sneak it in after dinner or before breakfast or anything like that so I typically write between 8am [when the kids go to school] to about 4pm. Then I will usually take one of them to wherever they need to be – netball, hockey, tennis, cadets, dance whatever. I like to do that so I can be directly involved in their lives – hands on. I think being a parent gives you a depth of empathy that you don’t have pre-children and it profoundly shapes my writing.
Do you have an enduring memory of your father and books?
Yeah, he was a binge reader in that if he found an author he liked, he would read all of their books one after the other. I remember him devouring William Boyd at one stage and so I started too with A Good Man in Africa and Boyd became and continues to be my favourite writer.
If you could recommend one book for your kids to read now (or in the future) what would it be?
I read Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck when I was in my early teens. There was something about his writing and depiction of the US post the Great Depression that hit me hard and I always tell my kids to read that book. None of them have!
If you were to write a book about your experiences as a father, what would the title be?
The Impossibly Brilliant Journey to Who Knows Where
Is there a book you would suggest all new fathers should read to prepare themselves for the journey ahead?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
