Diana Wichtel, a New Zealand writer and critic, was born in Vancouver in 1950. 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. When she was 13 her mother brought her to New Zealand to live, along with her two siblings. Although he was expected to follow, she never saw her father again. The mystery of her father's life took years to unravel, and is recounted in Wichtel's award-winning book Driving toTreblinka. The book has been called "a masterpiece" by New Zealand writer Steve Braunias. 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." Driving to Treblinka won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General non-fiction at the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Wichtel was appointed staff writer at the New Zealand Listener in 1984. She joined the magazine from the English department at the University of Auckland, where she gained a Master in Arts, and also tutored. 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."
Awards
Wichtel has won numerous awards for her journalism. 2001 Qantas Media Awards: Best Magazine Columnist: The Arts - Creative New Zealand Award. 2011 Canon Media Awards Best Magazine Feature Writer Politics 2011 Canon Media Awards Best Magazine Feature Writer Arts 2012 Canon Media Awards: Magazine Feature Writer Arts and Entertainment. 2013 Canon Media Awards: Reviewer of the Year 2019 Voyager Media Awards Reviewer of the Year 2016 Grimshaw Sargeson fellow 2018 Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General non-fiction: Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
