One of the stars scheduled to appear at Going West is Anna Funder, an Australian writer who has worked as an international lawyer and in PR for a German TV service in Berlin.

Funder is attracting a lot of attention for her book Stasiland, which won the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. The book explores the stories of ordinary people affected by the Stasi (the East German Police).

Luckily for us, Maggie Rainey-Smith caught Funder's session in Wellington last night, and can give us a preview of what to expect at Going West:

'Last night I went and listened to Anna Funder, guest of NZ Book Council in Wellington, speaking to a rather good turnout at the National Library auditorium. Usual intro by Karen (plug for Book Council future events) and then Lynn Freeman (The Arts on Sunday) was the chair for the night.

Lots of feedback from the microphone, followed by plenty of jiggling and juggling by Anna (most graciously) – fixing mike to her jersey, removing it and holding it etc, attempting to use the podium microphone (more ringing noises) – at this stage, I began to feel that someone ought to have taken responsibility for the sound system instead of leaving it up to the guest.

But, in spite of the sound issues, which did settle down eventually, Anna was an absolute star in every sense. Not only is she gorgeous (yes, really truly), but she is gracious, intelligent, and has (for an Australian – hey just kidding) a very light, clear and lovely voice.

She also came across as exceptionally connected to her audience and her topic (Stasiland) – at no time did you get the feeling she was “on tour” and that you were being told re-cycled anecdotes for impact – rather, it felt like a very serious and interesting conversation from someone who has dedicated quite a lot of time to exploring a fascinating part of East Germany history.

Highly recommend her book. I’m only two thirds the way through, but not only is it fascinating, it is also well written – descriptive, intelligent, questioning, compassionate and importantly, humourous. It starts out with her own hangover (a real boomer) and you connect with the writer instantly because she is prepared to admit to this (and it happens again, and you like her all the more because of it).

She had the audacity to advertise in the paper looking for ex Stasi Police to talk with her – and hey, she got results. And one of the interesting twists to all of this is that the Stasi currently are attempting a revisionist style come-back, wanting their Headquarters (now a Museum and testimony to their regime) destroyed because of the horrors that went on there … Beat that!

I have visited this museum, and reading Anna’s book, I was taken back to the bizarre experience it was walking around the building which was abandoned so abruptly – it was like being inside a New Zealand government department in perhaps the sixties and some of the surveillance technology seemed very outdated and quite funny.

You kept thinking there’d be a shoe-phone or something and Maxwell Smart would pop out and say hello. But Anna told me when she signed my book that they are now uncovering quite sophisticated means of surveillance including pipes on the tram tracks!

But more interesting than all of the surveillance equipment, was the methods of suppression used by the Stasi – an example is a young woman in Anna’s book who is arrested for daring to hand out pamphlets criticising the system – she attempts at the age of sixteen to cross the wall (indeed!) and once captured, from that time on, under Stasi rule, she is unable to find work anywhere, but no reasons given – just the systematic destruction of her self-esteem and identity – but nothing particularly overt that would draw attention to the system.

And then her husband dies in Stasi captivity under mysterious circumstances (official line: suicide), and this woman is still to this day searching for answers.

Also, interestingly, she was turned down by over 20 publishers in Germany, and now the German edition is being “sanitized” to remove the bits she wrote about what the Stasi Police got up to after the wall came down – because under German law they are able to protect themselves from a reputation that they don’t deserve (or some such legal-loophole).

Anna seems to think that a lot of the “Left” are happy to criticise Hitler, but unable to go the next step and accept criticism of Stalin and of the Stasi.

Anyway – I’d better not reveal all the good bits. On the other hand, even if you knew the entire “plot” (for want of a better word), then you would still be fascinated, as I am.

So, go get yourself a copy – and if Anna’s in your town, she is worth giving up a night in front of the telly for. Plus, clever girl, she praised NZ and said she’s enjoying it more than any other tour because she so admires our political system (raised a laugh or two) – but she did raise the issues of Howard’s treatment of asylum seekers and the new anti-terrorist laws.

Oh, and I just wanted to add … I did go and listen to Stella Rimington (ex Director General of MI5 a week or two ago) – an interesting woman (you imagine), but somehow years of learning to tell people what they want to hear or you want them to know, seemed to have blunted the impact of what she said as if everything was automatically edited (and yes, her fiction is always checked first by MI5).

I wanted to ask her “What about Lockerbie?” – but of course, she would never have said, except the official line. So, in some respects, fascinating as she should have been, she sort of wasn’t. But charming, admirable, and almost-interesting.'

Thanks Maggie.

If you are interested, Funder is scheduled to appear on Sunday from 2-3pm in 'Stories from “a land gone wrong”'.