Julian "Joe" Bennett (born 20 April 1957) is an English-born writer, columnist and playwright living in

Lyttelton, New Zealand Lyttelton ( or ''Riritana'') is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. As a landing point ...

. He is the author of more than 20 books, and writes for

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

newspaper ''

The Press ''The Press'' () is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff (company), Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday t ...

'' in columns syndicated throughout New Zealand. "He’s the People’s Columnist, a great prose stylist, funny and original, a scholar and a humanist, firmly on the side of common sense ... He reveres Waugh but his model is closer to

Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

, that master of direct speech."

Steve Braunias Steven Carl Braunias (born 20 June 1960) is a New Zealand author, columnist, journalist and editor. He is the author of 14 books. Early life and family Braunias was born in New Zealand to an Austrian immigrant father and a New Zealand-born mother ...

Personal life

Born in Eastbourne, England, Joe Bennett was the youngest of four. In his memoir he describes a difficult relationship with his father, who died when he was 16. As a child he imagined becoming a professional cricketer. After studying at Cambridge, he taught at schools in Spain, France, England, Canada, and New Zealand. Bennett emigrated to New Zealand when he was 29, in 1987. Before taking up freelance writing in 1998, he worked as an English teacher at Christ's College in Christchurch. Bennett's first memoir, ''From There to Here'' (2023), is an account of his childhood and youth in England. It recounts his growing awareness that he was gay. " ennettwrites about his love life. He writes about his sexuality. More so, he writes about beauty – male beauty, first felt at 14, when he sees “a youth” in purple hipsters walk down the street. "My ideal form was male, not female. And I think I had always known it.”

Career

In 1994 Bennett wrote the words to the musical ''Tramps'', a co-production between Christ's College and St Margaret's College, reviewed in ''

''. ''Where Underpants Come From: From Checkout to Cotton Field – Travels Through the New China'' (2008) traces a pair of cheap underpants from New Zealand to China. ''King Rich'' (2015) is a novel set in Christchurch after the February 2011 earthquake. In the book ''Fun Run and Other Oxymorons'' (2000), his second collection of columns, Bennett writes:

"If anything holds these articles together it is that I like people but not in herds. I distrust all beliefs, most thought and anything ending in ''ism''. Most opinion is emotion in fancy dress."

Bennett is fond of dogs and this is reflected in the titles and cover art of many of his books. He featured in the New Zealand comedy show ''Moon TV'' hosted by "That Guy" Leigh Hart in a segment called "Bookzone: A Show About Books". In December 2011 he appeared in the media for refusing to evacuate his Lyttelton home as ordered by the

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...

due to fears of falling rocks if

another earthquake ''Another Earthquake!'' is the fourth studio album by American teen pop singer Aaron Carter, released on September 3, 2002. The album made its chart debut at number 18 on the US Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 (with 41,000 units sold), but fell ...

was to occur.

Awards

At the Canon Media Awards 2011, Bennett won New Zealand Columnist of the Year for the fifth time.

Selected bibliography

*''Just Walking the Dogs'' (1998) *''Sleeping Dogs and Other Lies'' (1999) *''Fun Run and Other Oxymorons'' (2000) (A collection of his first two books). *''So Help Me Dog'' (2000) *''Sit'' (2001) *''Doggone'' (2002) *''Bedside Lovers (and Other Goats)'' (2002) *''Barking'' (2003) *''Unmuzzled'' (2004) *''A Land of Two Halves'' (2004) *''Dogmatic'' (2005) *''Down Boy'' (2006) *''Mustn't Grumble: An Accidental Return To England'' (2006) *''Love, Death, Washing-up, Etc: Joe Bennett Sorts It Out'' (2007) *''Eyes Right (and They's Wrong)'' (2007) *''Where Underpants Come From: Travels in the new China'' (2008) *''Laugh? I Could Have Cried'' (2008) *''Alive And Kicking'' (2008) *''The World's Your Lobster'' (2009) *''Hello Dubai'' (2010) *''Celebrity Cat Recipes'' (2010) *''Double Happiness: How bullshit works'' (2012) *''Fish like a Drink'' (2013) *''King Rich'' (2015) *''From There to Here'' (2023) (a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

) *''A Land of Two Halves'' (revised: 2024)

References

External links

joebennett.nz Archive of Bennett's columns
at ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Joe 21st-century New Zealand journalists Living people 1957 births English emigrants to New Zealand People from Lyttelton, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand journalists 20th-century New Zealand non-fiction writers 21st-century New Zealand non-fiction writers 20th-century New Zealand male writers 21st-century New Zealand male writers New Zealand gay writers