Writers on Mondays 2017, hosted by Victoria University
of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), brings
together a line-up of new and established talent to showcase what’s happening
in the world of New Zealand writing and beyond.
To launch the 2017 programme the IIML is presenting the first free
Wellington performance of Tell Me My Name, Bill Manhire’s sequence
of thirteen riddle poems set to music by composer Norman Meehan and performed
by vocalist Hannah Griffin and Victoria New Zealand School of Music violinist
and lecturer Martin Riseley. The concert takes place at 5.30pm, Tuesday 11 July
at Meow, 9 Edward Street.
The popular lunchtime
series at Te Papa Tongarewa begins on 17 July and the first three weeks feature
award-winning authors from America, Australia and New Zealand.
It kicks off with
Catherine Chidgey, winner of the $50,000 Acorn Fiction Prize at the 2017
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, in conversation about her prize-winning book The
Wish Child and her writing career to date.
On 24 July, 2016 Stella
Prize winner Charlotte Wood, one of Australia’s “most original
and provocative writers” (The Australian) appears with New Zealand
novelist and convenor of the IIML Master of Arts fiction stream Emily Perkins.
On 31 July, American
poet and essayist Marianne Boruch joins the IIML’s poetry and creative
nonfiction convenor Chris Price to explore how her work approaches the
big topics of love, death and human knowledge. Marianne Boruch’s restless
curiosity ranges across science, music, medicine and art, asking questions such
as “why does the self grow smaller as the poem grows enormous?”.
Director of the IIML
Professor Damien Wilkins says the combination of new voices and established
writers in Writers on Mondays is wonderful.
“This free series is a
great way for readers and writers to get together for entertaining,
informative, uplifting, even perplexing sessions of talk and performance.”
On 7 August poet and
novelist Anna Smaill introduces a quartet of poets with exciting new books.
Featuring work from the cutting edge of NZ poetry with Louise Wallace (Bad
Things), Hannah Mettner (Fully Clothed and So Forgetful),
Maria McMillan (The Ski Flier) and Airini Beautrais (Flow).
In Hopeful Animals,
14 August, Damien Wilkins, Tracey Farr and Pip Adam discuss and read from their
recent novels, and consider how fiction continues to provide a vital lens on
contemporary life.
Writers on Mondays will acknowledge National Poetry Day
with the annual Best New Zealand Poems reading on 21 August. Best New
Zealand Poems 2016 editor and Arts Foundation Laureate Jenny Bornholdt
introduces this lively session featuring 13 poets at the top of their game.
On 28 August The Fuse
Box gathers some of our best writers to shine a light on the creative
process. Playwright Gary Henderson, novelists Rajorshi
Chakraborti and Elizabeth Knox, and poet James Brown join
editors Chris Price and Emily Perkins to take a look at the
wiring of creative writers and celebrate the launch of this collection of
essays on creativity from Victoria University Press.
Acclaimed playwright
Victor Rodger, the Victoria University/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence
for 2017, has assembled a panel of writers to explore how the work of others
can inspire and challenge. Mitch Tawhi Thomas, Moana Ete, Jamie McCaskill and
Faith Wilson discuss the dynamics of creative communities on 4 September.
The final month of
events showcases work from the current cohort of writers in the Masters in
Creative Writing Programme at the IIML. It begins with fiction, poetry and
creative nonfiction writers in The Next Page, 11 and 18 September, then
moves to Circa Theatre for Short Sharp Script, 25 September and 2
October, where actors perform dynamic new work by participants in the
Master of Arts scriptwriting workshop.
The Writers on Mondays
series runs from 17 July to 2 October, 12.15–1.15pm, Te Marae, Level 4, Te Papa
Tongarewa, with the exception of the opening concert at Meow and the two
Short Sharp Script events at Circa Theatre. Admission is free and all
are welcome.
The full 2017 Writers
on Mondays programme is attached and can also be viewed and downloaded from
the IIML’s website.
Writers on Mondays is
presented by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters
with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and additional support from
Circa Theatre and National Poetry Day.
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