Richard Dawkins coming to New Zealand Festival

Richard Dawkins
Michael Fowler Centre
Writers Week
New Zealand Festival
March 4

The Wellington Writers Week has scored a coup in getting Richard Dawkins, the renowned scientist, vocal atheist and controversial critic to be part of the New Zealand Festival next year.

In a special one-off, New Zealand event at the Michael Fowler Centre, Dawkins will speak about his life and work and expand on the themes of inspiration, influence and ideas in his recent memoir, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science.

An evolutionary biologist and emeritus fellow at New College, Oxford, Dawkins is never far from the headlines, and is perhaps best known for his investigation into the biology of selfishness and altruism in The Selfish Gene (1976) and his rejection of a supernatural creator in The God Delusion (2006).

In conversation with New Zealand writer Bernard Beckett (who chaired the sold-out Writers Week conversation with Dawkins in 2010) Dawkins’ event is a chance to hear from one of the world’s leading contemporary thinkers.

Writers Week Programme Manager Kathryn Carmody says Dawkins' appearance in March is an exciting preview ahead of the full Writers Week programme that opens the following week.

“Writers Week is about bringing articulate people together to celebrate the life of the mind and the world of ideas.  We’re delighted that Professor Richard Dawkins, who has dedicated his life to science, scholarship and debate, is available for what promises to be a very special event,” she says.

Writers Week (March 8-13, 2016) will see some of the smartest, most eloquent and entertaining people from home and abroad to Wellington for six days during New Zealand Festival. 

Writers already announced include Muriel Barbery, Nnedi Okorafor and Simon Winchester.

Muriel Barbery’s novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, has sold over five million copies worldwide and her latest novel, The Secret Life of Elves, will be released in Australia and New Zealand in March 2016.

Nnedi Okorafor's African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism is stark and evocative, tackling political and philosophical issues. Her novel, Lagoon, was a finalist in the British Science Fiction Awards.

With 25 books to his name, Simon Winchester is renowned for his books on subjects such as the eruption of Krakatoa and the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. His more recent works include Atlantic and Pacific.

The full Writers Week programme, with further announcements, will be launched in January.

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