New Zealand author, journalist and cultural critic
Diana Wichtel (2018).
Diana Wichtel (born 1950 in Vancouver) is a New Zealand writer and critic.[1] Her mother, Patricia, was a New Zealander; her father, Benjamin Wichtel, a Polish Jew who escaped from the Nazi train taking his family to the Treblinka extermination camp in World War II.[1] When she was 13 her mother brought her to New Zealand to live, along with her two siblings.[2][3] Although he was expected to follow, she never saw her father again.[4][1][5][6] The mystery of her father's life took years to unravel, and is recounted in Wichtel's award-winning book Driving toTreblinka.[7][8] The book has been called "a masterpiece" by New Zealand writer Steve Braunias.[7] New Zealand columnist Margo White wrote: "This is a story that reminds readers of the atrocities that ordinary people did to each other, the effect on those who survived, and the reverberations felt through following generations."[8]
Driving to Treblinka won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General non-fiction at the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[9][10]
Wichtel was appointed staff writer at the New Zealand Listener in 1984.[7] She joined the magazine from the English department at the University of Auckland,[7] where she gained a Master in Arts, and also tutored.[11] She has won many awards for her television criticism, profiles and feature writing. The New Zealand cultural critic and author Adam Dudding has written of Wichtel's "genius" for television reviewing: "Her reviews often strike a tone of tolerant bemusement; she's a visitor from Mars bearing witness to the latest bonkers manifestation of modern culture."[2] Wichtel was still writing for the Listener when its then publisher announced the magazine's closure in April 2020.[12][13]
The New Zealand Herald's weekend magazine Canvas welcomed Wichtel as a fortnightly columnist in October 2020.[14]
^ abcWichtel, Diana (2017). Driving to Treblinka : a long search for a lost father (First ed.). Wellington, New Zealand. ISBN 9781927249406. OCLC 1005083001.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ ab"Book review: Driving to Treblinka by Diana Wichtel". Stuff. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^"Diana Wichtel: Driving to Treblinka - The Listener". Noted. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
^"Twelve questions: author Diana Wichtel on her family history". New Zealand Herald. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^"Scoop Review of Books » Missing". Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^"Diana Wichtel's long search for her Holocaust-survivor father". Noted. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
^ abcdBraunias, Steve (15 May 2018). "And the winner is: Diana Wichtel". The Spinoff. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^ abWhite, Margo (5 October 2017). "Book of the Week: a heartbreaking work of genius by Diana Wichtel". The Spinoff. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^"Winners | New Zealand Book Awards Trust". www.nzbookawards.nz. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^"Ockham book award non-fiction winner Diana Wichtel". RNZ. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^Wichtel, Diana (13 August 2018). Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father. Awa Press. ISBN 9781927249406.
^"A story ended too suddenly: In praise of the NZ magazines of Bauer Media". The Spinoff. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
^"Diana Wichtel: 'We didn't see the Bauer truck coming' - The University of Auckland". www.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
^Daniell, Sarah (3 October 2020). "From The Editor". Canvas. The Weekend Herald.
DianaWichtel (born 1950 in Vancouver) is a New Zealand writer and critic. Her mother, Patricia, was a New Zealander; her father, Benjamin Wichtel, a Polish...
Search for a Lost Father Archived 2019-07-03 at the Wayback Machine, DianaWichtel, 2018, Awa Press, page 144. link to extract from book in Nzherald, published...
Search for a Lost Father Archived 3 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, DianaWichtel, 2018, Awa Press, page 144. link to extract from book in Nzherald, published...
fashion designer Rosita Vai – singer Lisa Wallbutton – basketball player DianaWichtel – writer and critic Chelsea Winter – celebrity chef "New Zealand Schools...
Drayton, Hudson & Halls: The Food of Love. Otago University Press 2018 – DianaWichtel, Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father. Awa Press 2017...
Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2021. Diana, Wichtel (12 May 2018). "Why Dame Anne Salmond is talking taonga". New Zealand...
an entirely raw Kiwi accent was still unheard of". Listener writer DianaWichtel remembered her unreconstructed Kiwi vowels as "depending on your point...
suggests the show will "map [her] journey to independent assertiveness." DianaWichtel in The New Zealand Listener says "This quiet comedy is in danger of...
(director) Jonathan Brough (Director 'Dr Rangi' & various segments) DianaWichtel (29 October 2005). "Yore Call". The Listener. Retrieved 1 May 2017....
Lewis, Tiny Lights for Travellers Ayelet Tsabari, The Art of Leaving DianaWichtel, Driving to Treblinka YOUNG ADULT/CHILDREN'S LITERATURE Kathy Kacer...
columns including Silent Spring Fever and Get your snake oil here 2002 DianaWichtel A Monstrous, Lethal Arrogance 2002 Joe Bennett Press columns 2003 Alan...
New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 November 2011. Robyn Malcolm at IMDb Wichtel, Diana (28 July 2007). "Cheryl and me". New Zealand Listener. Archived from...
Archived from the original on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014. Wichtel, Diana (18–24 November 2006). "Positively shocking". New Zealand Listener....
Best Headline Jonathan Milne (Herald on Sunday) Reviewer of the Year DianaWichtel (New Zealand Listener) Wolfson Fellowship to Cambridge Mike White (North...
winners Charlotte Grimshaw (New Zealand Listener/Bauer Media Group) and DianaWichtel (New Zealand Listener/Bauer Media) Editorial Executive of the Year Patrick...
Burying Brian starts in July". 19 June 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2008. Wichtel, Diana (12 July 2008). "A death in the family". New Zealand Listener. 214 (3557)...
New Zealand TV shows we loved the most". Stuff. Take three blokes" by DianaWichtel in ‘’New Zealand Listener’’, 15 July 1995 page 64 Gadsby, Jon (1997)...
"Shortland Street gets real". The New Zealand Herald. APN News & Media. "DianaWichtel: A bit limp - even with Viagra". The New Zealand Herald. APN News &...
"New Boys on the Box". Idealog. No. 6. pp. 34–43. ISSN 1179-3465. Wichtel, Diana (25 March 2005). "Waste not, want not". Noted. Auckland, New Zealand:...
Diana Hertha Golze (née Gnorski; born 18 June 1975) is a German politician from Die Linke. She was a Member of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2014. She resigned...
Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018. Wichtel, Diana (22 September 2017). "Unchained Melanie". New Zealand Listener. Archived...
Global Information