Australia & New Zealand Festival returns to London

THIS WAY UP: Australia & New Zealand Festival returns to London   Build up begins in February with 'rising stars' Anna Smaill & Brooke Davis Peter Carey confirmed for exclusive Bloomsbury Theatre event Festival culminates 28th – 31st May 2015, King’s College, London  We're delighted to announce that THIS WAY UP is back with events throughout May culminating in a festival weekender 28th-31st May at King's College, London where we'll showcase some of the best-known Antipodean writers and performers alongside new and emerging talent for you to discover. We reveal the Festival programme on 5th March, World Book Day, with tickets on general sale 12th March. You don't have to wait till May for a hot ticket! Meet Anna Smaill (NZ) and Brooke Davis (Aus): two bestselling, debut novelists taking the literary world by storm. Catch them at their UK launch events in February. On 19th May, we have a show stopping event with twice Booker-winning novelist Peter Carey (Aus): avoid disappointment by booking early. See you soon! The ANZ Festival Team

UK launch event: The Chimes  Anna Smaill 9th Feb, 6.30pm Lutyens & Rubenstein Join us for an evening of words and music with Violinist and Novelist Anna Smaill to celebrate the UK edition of her debut novel, The Chimes. Between a re-imagined London and Oxford, Smaill has created a world where music has replaced the written word and memories are carried as physical objects. A land where memory itself is forbidden by 'the Order', whose vast musical instrument, the Carillon, renders the population amnesiac. Free but RSVP essential at www.ausnzfestival.com/ anna-smaill   UK launch event:  Lost & Found Brooke Davis  11th Feb, 6.30pm W'stones, Piccadilly  At first an irresistible debut, Lost & Found is now an international bestseller in which three unlikely companions take a road trip across Western Australia to find the mother of seven year old Millie, who was abandoned in an apartment store. Millie and octogenarians Agatha and Karl, discover that old age is not the same as death, that the young can be wise, and that letting yourself feel sad once in a while just might be the key to a happy life. Joint event with Government of Western Australia European Office Tickets £5, visit Waterstones and select "Brooke Davis" Amnesia and other stories: Peter Carey in conversation with Hermione Lee 19th May, 7pm Bloomsbury Theatre chaired by Carmen Callil In Carey’s latest novel, Amnesia, a cyber attack on Australian and American prisons frees thousands of prisoners. It has been described as ‘the story of WikiLeaks as if transmogrified by Dickens, turned into a thrilling fable for our post-Snowden era’. Carey and Lee consider how Australia forfeited democracy, the concept of privacy as an inalienable right, and 'writing Australia' from New York. Joint event with The Royal Society of Literature and Intelligent Life  Tickets via www.ausnzfestival.com