Australia New Zealand Festival of Literature and Art

·       Festival’s crowdfunding on Pozible inches towards its £10K target and on track for a UK Pozible record

The Australian and New Zealand Festival of Literature and Arts’ Programme is online and open for booking.  The inaugural Festival will take place at King’s College, London and will run from the 29th of May to the 1st^t of June.

The Festival, which has attracted Jane Campion as its patron, boasts a stellar line-up of more than one hundred writers and artists.  They include 2014 Miles Franklin short-listed author, Tim Winton; Clive James; a specially written piece of music by Sydney composer Mark Bradshaw presented with his partner, actor Ben Whishaw; Fay Weldon; Helen Garner; Evie Wyld, Anna Funder; actor, writer and theatre director Michael Blakemore; Kathy Lette; John Pilger and many more – established names, indigenous voices, and fresh talent. 

The Festival is also proud to be screening the best Australian short films in association with Australian based festival, Tropfest - the biggest and most prestigious short film festival in the world.

In addition to funding from the Australian and NZ governments, the Festival has reached out to individuals for support via its crowdfunding campaign.

Trish Wadley, the Festival’s commercial director said:

‘The crowdfunding campaign is a great way for all those unable to attend the Festival itself, but want to support Antipodean artists from afar. We are delighted to be inching our way to our target of £10,000 although we still have a challenge ahead as donations are only collected if the target is met.’

The crowdfunding is hosted by Pozible, an Australian company which has just launched in the UK.  Pozible has gone on to become the largest crowdfunding platform in the Asia Pacific Region.  Pozible Co-Founder and UK native, Alan Crabbe, moved to Australia in 2007 and is delighted to host a project that celebrates his two homes:

‘Since it launched in 2010, Pozible has hosted almost 6,000 projects from across the globe. I am personally delighted that this wonderful festival will bring amazing talent such as Tim Winton and Helen Garner to London to be showcased on the world stage’ he said.

Great rewards are on offer to donors, including front row tickets to Festival events, a champagne high tea at the Savoy with Kathy Lette, a secret lamington recipe and a mini library of books selected by the Festival.

The Festival is a UK Registered Charity and donations can be made to our Pozible campaign today.  http://www.pozible.com/project/179468

The Festival kicks off this weekend with Going Bush, a presentation of new short plays by Australian and New Zealand playwrights at the Bush Theatre. 

The Big Debate is the newest event to be announced.   Hosted by The Times and Sunday Times and with Robert Collins (Deputy Literary Editor, The Sunday Times) in the chair, it promises to be a spirited debate centered on the proposed motion: ‘The Cultural Cringe is Over’.  Speakers confirmed include actress, Greta Scacchi, Anita Heiss, and Steve Braunias. http://ausnzfestival.com/event/the-big-debate-the-cultural-cringe-is-over/

Tim Winton’s latest book Eyrie is attracting rave reviews - just a few tickets left for his opening event and tickets are selling fast for Fay Weldon's event, where she'll be discussing her 'kiwi connections'.