The Auckland Writer’s festival is just around the corner (May 15th-17th) and it’s one of my favourite times of the year, a chance to celebrate our storytellers and fact finders, a chance to come together with fellow book worms - young and old - and hear from the people who have been keeping our reading stacks so full and interesting.
I have loaded myself up with over 10 events and will hopefully add in some more free events throughout the weekend, so here’s a little round up of 5 things I am most looking forward to as well as a couple of the ones I am sad to be missing but know will be amazing.
#1 - The Amazing Free Events (for both the tamariki as well as the adults!)
I love that the writer’s festival values the arts and literature and helps to create plenty of free events for people to attend without needing to buy a ticket. From a Samoan language session with Jason Tiatia (author of Samoan Made Simple) to discussions on the Creative Rights of AI, there’s something for everyone to pop in and enjoy in the kōrero corner!
For the kids there are a huge range of amazing activities available throughout the festival and my own 4 year old will be coming along for the first time this year which I’m really excited about. We are planning to try and go along to the amazing Farmer’s Pyjama Party hosted by Ruth Paul, and then go along to Beastly Magic which is an awesome creative session with Claire Mabey (who writes amazing novels for middle grade and above!) and Alba Gil Celdran (illustrator extraordinaire for Dragonfall).
#2 - The Plot Twist Lineup
A new addition to this year’s amazing lineup is Plot Twist - a literary takeover at the Q theatre that is all about bringing a fresh new perspective to books and writing. I am going along to a couple of events but wish I could be at every one as they all look incredibly fascinating and on the pulse. I’m heading along to The Rise of Romance which is hosted by 3 amazing wāhine (author Ivy Cliffwater, Ruby Wallace - fellow bookseller, and translator Shanna Tan), and Weird Girl Lit which is one of my favorite genres to read and talk about. There’s also sessions on using tarot for your writing, dystopia as protest, and mental health and neurodiversity. It’s a fascinating collection of talks a little outside the ordinary and I’m so excited for these things to be a part of the AWF space.
#3 - Some of the big international authors
There are always a few big drawcard international authors involved in the festival but this year feels bigger and more impressive than ever! I’m heading along to see a few of my favourites - R.F. Kuang, Charlotte McConaghy, David Szalay, and Maggie O’Farrell (an online session) but I wish I could have seen about 5 more. From writing classes with Lily King (I cannot ever imagine writing anything as stunning as she does), to hearing from Florence Knapp (author of the popular book The Names), there are so many amazing authors to hear from and it was physically painful to try and choose!
Top tip - going along to events with multiple authors involved like a panel discussion, is a great way to see more than one author at a time. More for your money, but also means you can fit more into your day! One of the panels I am excited for is The Spice Salon, a late night event all about writing the raunchy bits.
#4 - Lots of our amazing local ones too!
I have already written a whole post about how much I love NZ authors and all of the incredible local writing that goes on (read it here!), so I am just as excited to go along to a few events with local talent involved as well!
I’m excited to go along to The Mother of All Journeys as reading books about Motherhood is another little niche favourite, and it’s a discussion hosted by Elisabeth Easther and Emma Neale, both amazing authors with fabulous books. AI is a topic I am fascinated by so I’m excited to go along and hear Catherine Chidgey and Claire Mabey tackle the topic along with Sam Irvine and Karen Hao in Authors and AI: A Moment of Reckoning? I’m also really excited to attend the Jann Medlictott Acord Prize for Fiction ceremony and find out which book takes the title as they are all SO GOOD (I’m keeping my fingers crossed that debut novel Hood’s Landing takes top prize, but they are all very deserving!).
#5 - Seeing lots of you!
My favourite thing about events like this is that it brings book lovers, writers, poets, creatives together. Whether it’s sitting next to strangers in the events, or chatting over buying books, I can’t wait to meet a few new friends and hear all about their experiences at the festival (and of course ask about what people are reading!).
Let us know which events you’re heading along to this year!