Julian "Joe" Bennett is a writer and columnist living in Lyttelton, New Zealand

Lyttelton, New Zealand

Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....

.

Born in England, he emigrated to New Zealand when he was twenty nine. Before his writing career, he worked as a high school teacher at one of Christchurch's leading high schools, Christ's College

Christ's College, Canterbury

Christ's College, Christchurch is an independent, Anglican, secondary, day and boarding school for boys, located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand....

. Bennett is a columnist for Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

's newspaper The Press

The Press

The Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is owned by Fairfax Media.- History :The Press was first published on 25 May 1861 from a small cottage in Montreal Street, making it the oldest surviving newspaper in the South Island of New Zealand. The first...

and has also authored several books.

From the "Introduction" to Fun Run and Other Oxymorons he describes himself as follows:

"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 a seasoned hitchhiker

Hitchhiking

Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...

 and has a dog called Blue. He has previously had two dogs called Baz and Jess. He is fond of dogs and this is reflected in the titles and cover art of many of his books.

He has also been in segments on the New Zealand comedy show Moon TV hosted by "That Guy" Leigh Hart in a segment called "Bookzone: A Show About Books"

Selected bibliography

• Just Walking the Dogs (1998) ISBN 1-877161-49-7
• Sleeping Dogs and Other Lies (1999) ISBN 1-877161-67-5
• Fun Run and Other Oxymorons (2000) ISBN 0-684-86136-4 (A collection of his first two books).
• So Help Me Dog (2000) ISBN 1-877270-02-4
• Sit (2001) ISBN 1-877270-10-5
• Doggone (2002) ISBN 1-877270-34-2
• Barking (2003) ISBN 1-877270-49-0
• Unmuzzled (2004) ISBN 1-877270-85-7
• A Land of Two Halves (2004) ISBN 0743257138 ISBN 074326357X
• Dogmatic (2005) ISBN 1-877393-11-8
• Down Boy (2006) ISBN 1-877393-25-8
• Mustn't Grumble: An Accidental Return To England (2006) ISBN 0-7432-7627-2
• Where Underpants Come From (2008) ISBN 1847370012 ISBN 978-1847370013
• The World's Your Lobster (2009) ISBN 9781869508104
• Hello Dubai (2010) ISBN 9781847376749

External links

• joebennett.co.nz
• Archive of Bennett's columns at The Press
  The Press
  The Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is owned by Fairfax Media.- History :The Press was first published on 25 May 1861 from a small cottage in Montreal Street, making it the oldest surviving newspaper in the South Island of New Zealand. The first...