New Zealand Festival announces writers line-up

New Zealand Festival Writers Week
March 6-13
Tickets on sale to multi-pass and Culture Club supporters from 9am, January 29. Tickets on sale to public from 9am, February 5

Some of the world’s best writers and thinkers will be in Wellington during March for the 30^th anniversary of New Zealand Festival’s Writers Week.

The writers will include scientists, poets, novelists, historians, journalists, along with the world’s most famous atheist, Richard Dawkins.

A controversial speaker will be the liberal left-wing Israeli writer Etgar Keret, who is criticised by both sides of the Palestine/Israel debate for his writings on the Jewish state.

Others are the brilliant neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, new guard feminist Mallory Ortberg, award-winning journalists Simon Winchester and Andrew O’Hagan, and the writer and performer Miranda July.

Writers Week programme manager Kathryn Carmody says this year’s Writers Week programme theme is “rapprochement, which speaks to the idea of reconciliation in its broadest sense."

"There’s someone for everyone; from intrepid marathon runner Christopher McDougall to US National Poetry Slam Champion Anis Mojgani; from popular scientist Adam Rutherford to science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor; from the inimitable fantasy author Jasper Fforde to the prolific fiction writer Patrick Gale.  

"Robert Dessaix will talk about Enid Blyton’s lasting influence and young adult writers Cornelia Funke and Sally Gardner will explore the YA genre in conversation with Ted Dawe and Mandy Hager.

"Sessions including the multi-genre artist Mariko Tamaki will also be a highlight of the festival."

Closer to home, the New Zealand line-up includes Man Booker longlisted author of The Chimes, Anna Smaill; theologian and bicycle enthusiast Lloyd Geering; performance  poet Courtney Sina Meredith and Joy Cowley who, at 80, will reflect on a lifetime of writing.

A Circle of Laureates will bring NZ Poet Laureate CK Stead and previous laureates together for an evening of poetry, while Philip Temple will present the Janet Frame Memorial Lecture on the theme of "Where We Were; Where We Are Now."

“Writers festivals are wonderful occasions for book lovers and authors alike. They enrich the often solitary experiences of reading and writing by bringing readers and writers together in community spaces where broader discussion can be explored,” Ms Carmody says.

www.festival.co.nz/2016/writers-week/