New Zealand literary great CK Stead is getting schooled on the country's rape culture by Man Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton. The famed novelist conceded that the younger author may be right when she rebuked him for his comments on Roast Busters and the country's "embarrassing delirium" on the issue.

81-year-old Stead wrote a letter to the New Zealand Herald about Roast Busters, a group of young men in Auckland believed to be around 18 to 19 years old who rape drunk, underage girls and shame them on Facebook. The scandal dates back to 2011, but it was just recently been exposed nationwide.

The police are being blamed for the lack of progress on the case, especially after it was revealed that there were girls who filed formal complaints against their accusers.

Mr Stead did not believe that people should blame the police at all, and that the rape between the accused and their alleged victims in the Roast Busters case is questionable.

In his letter titled "Roast Busters delirium," Mr Stead started his piece by sharing that after two months overseas, he has arrived in New Zealand to find the whole country protesting the issue, which he compared to the "collective hysteria" similar to one in 1950s when the nation discovered that there were teenagers engaging in sex during their lunch breaks.

"...with the difference, however, that it is now more or less universally accepted that if sex occurs between minors and there is anything unlawful, immoral, or otherwise distasteful about it, the male is entirely to blame, and the female a victim.

"The police are being harried and bullied to press charges they do not believe they have sufficient evidence to sustain; and in the nation's present state of mind, it is hard to see how any young person brought to trial could get a fair hearing or a just outcome."

He continued, "The press, radio and television should stop encouraging this embarrassing delirium. We should all step back, cool down, and stop sounding off as if the bad behaviour of the young has come upon us like the revelation of something new. It is time to change the subject."

The "Smith's Dream" novelist's view on the national issue didn't sit well with Ms Catton, who tweeted on Saturday, "Rape culture is: people who want to shut down conversations about rape. From a NZ writer, this is disgusting."

She included a link to the image of the NZ Herald's article clipping.

Those who were hoping for a longer feud between the writers would be disappointed as Mr Stead has conceded that Ms Catton could be right.

"I do understand what she is saying. I don't want to shut down conversations. She may be right," he told the NZ Herald.

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