More than 100 writers,
thinkers, commentators and performers from New Zealand and around the world
will transform central Christchurch into a haven of lyrics, poetry and prose
with the opening of WORD Writers and Readers Festival tomorrow (Wednesday 27 August).
The Festival - which runs from
27-31 August - opens at 7.30pm by demonstrating its unswerving commitment to
Christchurch – launching the Cardboard Cathedral book in the venue itself,
featuring the architect who designed it, Shigeru Ban. Mr Ban who recently
won the world’s most prestigious architects’ award – the Pritzker Prize - has
flown from Paris solely to show his support to the city at the launch.
The multi-day festival which
features more than 68 events taking place in the heart of the city, offers
entertainment, politics, ideas, food and fiction for pre-schoolers to adults
alike.
WORD literary director Rachael
King (left) hopes Cantabrians will venture to see writers they may not have come
across before, as well as booking to hear their favourites.
“One of the great pleasures of
festival-going is discovering new voices and broadening your understanding on
an issue from listening to global experts. I’m hugely excited by the depth and
diversity of this year’s line-up – from well known novelists to song writers
and philosophers - there truly is something to suit everyone.”
Many of this year’s highlight
sessions are close to selling out.
“There are only a few tickets
left to: Nicky Hager’s Secrets, Spies and Free Speech session with
international foreign correspondents Luke Harding and Richard King; US
rebuilding cities expert Reed Kroloff’s session Lessons from Adversity;
Eleanor Catton’s The Luminary and The Great New Zealand Crime Debate.
“I encourage you to book soon
to avoid missing out,” says Ms King.
Pechakucha
on Thursday 28th August, The Stars Are Out Tonight – WORD’s
opening gala night on Friday 29 August, We Need New Names with novelist
NoViolet Bulawayo on Saturday 30 August and Meg Wolitzer’s fiction
workshop on Sunday 31 August are all sold out.
WORD 2014 is the most varied
programme in the festival’s 17-year history. It’s
both international in scope and intensely local, with sessions that are very
relevant to Christchurch audiences, including Rebuilding Christchurch: Red
Zones, Green Frames and Blueprints - a panel based around the Christchurch
recovery and a panel on writing tough stories, featuring Gaylene Preston,
creator of Hope & Wire, the TV drama about the earthquakes.
For those who enjoy a less
beaten path, WORD has introduced a Fringe Programme this year, which is packed with entertaining
and stimulating events, such as a panel on the power of superhero comics,
experimental poetry, local songwriters discussing their craft, and a theremin
performance.
Another new addition to the
festival is the Saturday free family events at Rydges Latimer, with
international and New Zealand children’s writers,
giving Christchurch kids the chance to get up close to their favourite writers.
Special events snapshot
One of the world’s renowned
food writers and critics, New York’s Ruth Reichl (right)appears in The Best
Possible Taste, Saturday 30 August, 12.30pm.
Join adept and articulate MC Joe
Bennett for The Great New Zealand Crime Debate as he chairs a
raucous night of argument and repartee while a stellar line-up of debaters,
including Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel and writers Steve
Braunias and Meg Wolitzer, argues the moot, ‘Crime doesn’t pay’.
The debate is followed by presentation of the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for
Best Crime Novel. Saturday 30 August, 8pm, Rydges Latimer.
The multi-million copy, New
York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Tale, Diane
Setterfield talks about her work with novelist Nicky Pellegrino on
Saturday 30 August at 3.30pm.
Australian philosopher Damon
Young explores one of literature’s most
intimate relationships, that between writers and their gardens, at the
Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Saturday 30 August, 10am, Botanic Gardens
Visitors Centre.
New Zealand writer Elizabeth
Knox, winner of the recent New Zealand Post Award for Young Adult Fiction,
presents the inaugural Margaret Mahy Lecture, entitled An Unreal House
Filled with Real Storms. Sunday 31 August, 10am, Rydges Latimer.
No comments:
Post a Comment