CHRISTCHURCH WRITERS FESTIVAL

bouquets & brickbats

After every Festival I attend I always compose this list. It is done from the viewpoint of someone attending but not involved with the hope that the comments are useful to the organisers when planning gets underway for the next Festival.

BOUQUETS

*The venue. Central location, quality fit out which made for comfortable seating, good acoustics.

*The UBS Festival Bookshop - wonderfully stocked, superbly managed by Gillian Newman.

*Local support, Massive turnouts especially on Saturday & Sunday.

*The Programme. Authors- what a wonderful variety from international superstars to novice locals and everything in between. Wide variety of genres covered - Literary fiction, crime fiction, non-fiction of every kind, poetry

*The Sponsors - what a host of generous sponsors. It wouldn't be possible without them. And among them the book publishers who flew in authors from aoriund NZ and around the world for our enteryainment and education.

*Christchurch Public Library - with their team of bloggers ever present, and their wonderful library not far away offering free Interent connection.

I love their slogan - find it, 24/7 - christchurchcitylibraries.com

BRICKBATS

*Sound system.

After almost every session I heard people complaining that they hadn't been able to hear properly. Sometimes you could hear some of the panellists and not others but overall it was a consistently bad feature. There were several sessions where members of the audience called out about the lack of sufficient volume but most times the good folk of Christchurch suffered in silence and then complained outside afterwards.

When you couple this with the fact that often, because the Limes and Conference Rooms do not have sloped floors, you couldn't see the authors or chairman which added to the problem. There is nothing that can be done about non-sloped floors so next time consideration must be given to making the stages higher so everyone can see and not just those in the front few rows.

*Lack of free Internet access at the venue.

Take a leaf out of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival and ensure that there is free wireless broadband internet connection available at the venue. This must become absolutely standard practice at all international festivals and conferences.

*Chairpersons who forgot the audience came to hear an author/s, not to hear them.

Peter Elliott was probably the worst in this regard but all Chairpersons need to be reminded in advance of their role.

*Lack of space in upstairs lobby area

Perhaps the bookshop should be moved into the outer upstairs lobby to provide more room for book browsers and buyers. The author signing sessions could also be out there.

As it was, prior to and immediately after sessions being held at the same time in the Limes & Conference Rooms, the crowding made it feel like New Delhi Railway Station there were so many crushed into a small space.

*Two sessions being held simultaneously

How utterly frustrating it is when you want to be in two places at once. This year at the NZ Post Writers & Readers Week in Wellington the organisers avoided this for the first time and it was a very popular and well received move.

FOOTNOTE

Best Event - An Evening with Dame Ngaio Marsh

Best Speaker - Kate Mosse

Best Chair - Carole Beu

Best Surprise - Marion Halligan