You Have a Lot to Lose

‘Stead’s second volume of autobiography is a literary memoir to put alongside those by Frame and Sargeson. He has great anecdotes and gossip, surprising confessions and shrewd observations, but what makes the book come alive is a superbly distinct sense of the times, places and people he remembers. You Have a Lot to Lose is more than a postscript to a life in letters - it is among the writer’s major achievements.’ –Alex Calder“Suffused with the honesty, the insights and the narrative skills we have come to expect and hugely enjoy from Stead.” –The Independent

C. K. Stead is a distinguished, award-winning novelist, literary critic, poet, essayist and emeritus professor of English at the University of Auckland. He was the New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2015-17 and has won the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour possible in New Zealand.