Our
website is now live: www.goingwestfest.co.nz
12-14 September, Small Islands of Meaning
Charles Brasch wrote of “small islands of
meaning” and how we make sense of “the bewildering formlessness” of our place,
our times and ourselves. To find those “small islands of meaning” we launch the
search through poets, historians, musicians, designers, architects, artists and
novelists.
In the gutter – Gutter Black by Dave
McArtney is the candid, funny, irreverent and sometimes shocking story of Hello
Sailor's emergence from “Mandrax Mansion” in pre-gentrification Ponsonby in the
early 1970s. Publisher Finlay Macdonald, and band mates Graham Brazier and
Harry Lyon reminisce and, from time to time, break into song.
In the
kitchen cupboard – Valerie
Ringer Monk talks about her Crown Lynn obsession and graphic designer, and writer Jonty Valentine explores the career and
working process of a New Zealand design legend, Mark Cleverley, who will be on
stage along with ObjectSpace director Philip Clarke.
In the State house and at home – Wallace Chapman takes architectural authors and
commentators Bill McKay and Andrea Stevens through the story of the state house
and social historians Jenny Carlyon
and Diana Brown in Changing Times: New
Zealand since 1945 make sense of state houses, the turbulent times we have
lived through and our place in the world.
In fiction –
Zealand-born Helen Brown's memoirs Cleo and After Cleo are
international bestsellers. Old friend and colleague Lindsey Dawson converses
with Helen about her first novel Tumbledown Manor, a richly observed and
laugh-out-loud funny story about a woman of 'certain years' who leaves the rat
race for a quiet life restoring a crumbling country mansion.
In private –
A session on Private Lives examines the issue of the privacy of letters and
journals through recent publications of journals by Charles Brasch and the
letters of J.C. Beaglehole.
At sea and beyond the black stump – A 75thanniversary publication of the 1930s South Seas Vagabonds brings to life the
story of Kiwi yachting legend Johnnie Wray and Hard Country, a memoir by
Robin Robilliard, tellingly evokes a classic story of the resoluteness of New
Zealanders who tackle and tame marginal land.
Other writers appearing are Anne Kennedy, Robert Sullivan, Sam Sampson, John Pule,
Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, Kiri Piahana-Wong, Ben Brown, Tina Makereti, Tina Shaw,
Tracey Barnett and Sandra Coney.
Saturday night
sees the Going West Poetry Slam take the
stage. Going West was the first literary festival to front poetry slamming, a
genre previously at home in pubs and halls. Expect it to be clever, funny,
heart-warming and confrontational. Generous cash prizes: www.goingwestfest.co.nz for details of heats taking place around Auckland.
The Going West New Zealand theatre
season of Goodbye My Feleni by Dave
Mamea pays tribute to Pasifika soldiers in WWII and is performed at the
Playhouse Theatre, Glen Eden, 28-31 August.
For further information: www.goingwestfest.co.nz
Tickets: www.eventfinder.co.nz
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