TWO EXCELLENT SESSIONS ON THE AFTERNOON OF DAY TWO
At the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival 2009

1.
A BUNCH OF SIGNIFICANT COLLECTIVE TALENT ON DISPLAY
Short & Sweet – David Malouf, Charlotte Grimshaw, Paula Morris (pic), & Owen Marshall

Two old masters of the short fiction form, the best from each side of The Tasman, and two young, awarded NZ women writers came together to discuss this “enigmatic genre” under the able chairmanship of author Sue Orr. After a mercifully brief introduction, after all we all know these authors, Sue Orr presented a series of thoughtful and well constructed questions which resulted in a meaningful panel discussion with plenty of thoughtful, meaty replies .

Before a brief, rather wonderful reading from each to conclude the session each author named a favourite short story writer – Marshall chose John Cheever, Morris chose William Trevor, Grimshaw chose Alice Munro while Malouf opted for Joseph Conrad and all spoke about a particular story that they especially admired.
Some panels just work, this one certainly did.
2.
WRITING FOR YA
Three stars on stage – Mal Peet (pic), M.T.Anderson with chair Kate de Goldi
Kate de Goldi should write the handbook on chairing a session at a writers festival.
This was a consummate display of chairmanship by the multi-talented author/ broadcaster/teacher which resulted in one of the best panel discussions I have ever witnessed at a festival.
The key was only having two panelists, sitting between them, ignoring the rostrum, being totally au fait with the work of the two authors, being a YA author herself, and of course all wrapped up with a warm, intelligent personality. Ten out of 10 for Kate.
And of course the two wonderfully talented panelists were an articulate joy, sparking off each other and the chair and having such a lot of meaningful, honest stuff to share. Teriffic detailed discussion on the definition of YA fiction and why they write in this area. They concluded that teenagers who like to read, tend to read voraciously and ecletically and that genre is not a notion they consider.

Scroll down for reports on events attended earlier in the day.