Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle | Auckland book launches | Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama & Autobiography of a Marguerite

Join Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle for the Aotearoa New Zealand launch of two powerful and innovative collections, Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama and Autobiography of a Marguerite, both published in April by Giramondo.

The launch will be hosted by Hana Pera Aoake, and feature readings from Hana, JM Francis, Josephine Kitsen and Siobhan Harvey, as well as the author herself.

Copies of Zarah’s books will be on hand for purchase, with light refreshments available.

This event is free, but please register your attendance on this page. We hope to see you there!

Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle is a writer and counsellor from Auckland, currently living in Melbourne. She is the author of Autobiography of a Marguerite, Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life and Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama. With David Jalal Motamed, she co-runs the reading series Bad Flâneur.

Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama is a collection of prose poems that invites the reader to consider the relationships between internalised beliefs and the development of illness, drawing on psychology texts and the language of self-help, and the exploration of character traits and dramatic tropes.

Autobiography of a Marguerite is an innovative book-length poem about chronic illness, familial dysfunction and the discovery of a sense of self. This acclaimed 2014 debut was described by critics as ‘astonishing’, ‘innovative’ and ‘a grand achievement’, with writing that ‘goes to the aching heart of disconnection and of longing for repair… Butcher-McGunnigle has created a crooked beauty out of shards.’

Date: Thursday 18 June
Time: 6pm for a 6.30pm start
Venue: Samoa House Library
Address: Entrance on Level 2, 283 Karangahape Road, Samoa House Building (Auckland CBD)
Ticket: Free – please RSVP

Presented by Giramondo Publishing | 30 years in 2026