Auckland Writers & Readers Festival Newsletter

Our big news is that, after 9 years at the Old Sitting Room at 1b Ponsonby Rd in Newton, we are MOVING! We have found lovely and sun-drenched premises in the Old Laundry Building in Surrey Crescent, Grey Lynn where we all be in one office rather than separated upstairs and downstairs. Much of the large historic office building is occupied by other creatives so we are looking forward to getting to know our new neighbours and have already scoped out the nearby cafes. Moving day is 25 September so we have started to get organised for the big clean-up and shift.

Anne Rodda has been engaged, permanently now, as our General Manager and she will bring with her to Surrey Crescent 20 years of arts administrative experience plus the Michael Hill International Violin Competition and New Zealand Sculpture OnShore which she also manages. Imagine – three iconic events managed from under one roof.

Festival Administrator Mel Curtis will assist Anne with all three events which are, conveniently, spaced across the calendar year.

A key member of our small team has decided to leave the Festival to pursue new challenges and we are very sad to farewell Annaliese Prickett. Annaliese was with the Festival as Marketing Manager from early 2007 and worked on the development of the strong festival brand and communications with stakeholders. She played a central role in the development of new audiences for the Festival, which contributed to the growth of the event over recent years. Annaliese is now working as a freelance Marketing contractor but, having developed relationships with many of our audience members, suppliers and supporters through her work at the Festival and as an avid reader, she has assured us we will see her in the audience at future Festivals.

Rebekah White has approached the Festival to take on an internship with us. She received her BA from the University of Auckland in 2008 with a major in English Literature and a minor in French. Given her experience with digital media, we’ve structured an internship around our web-based activities. Welcome aboard Rebekah.

Melbourne: musings from Jill Rawnsley
I just made it to the last day and a half of the 22nd Melbourne Writers’ Festival (Director Rosemary Cameron’s last before Associate Director Steve Grimwade takes the helm in November), before spending two days with literary festival directors from places near and far (Wellington, Christchurch, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Byron Bay, Canberra, Darwin, Ubud, Dubai, Ledbury, Beijing, Singapore, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.As always, much to discuss, and not enough time to do it.

Intent on catching some Australian writers in full flight at MWF, I was keen to see Thomas Keneally in the flesh never having done so before (who’d have thought he would have such a wonderfully gravelly voice), Shaun Tan was disarmingly modest (picture his beleaguered parents whose garage is full of his paintings - he likes them so much he doesn’t want to sell them); Nikki Gemmell was full of the joys of moving home, and M.J. Hyland didn’t seem to like being back from Manchester much at all.

Morris Gleitzman has clearly missed his vocation as a diplomat or Children’s Rights Advocate, and assisted in keeping the peace between Holocaust survivor Thomas Buergenthal and the strong-minded Vincenzo Cerami (co-author of Life is Beautiful). Wells Tower was a stand-out at the McSweeney event – the first launch of a McSweeney’s edition outside of the US - his wry and sometimes literally tongue-in-cheek reading was quite something. And the session called “Why Australian Literature?” highlighted for me that every country (lucky or otherwise) has the same questions and non-answers on the hoary subject of a national literature and why we should care about it ...

The Melbourne Writers’ Festival had a record year, with over 45,000 attendances, as has Edinburgh which has just announced that more than 80% of available tickets sold in 2009. This trend was also in evidence at AWRF in 2009, with a record attendance level of 25,000+. Other arts events in Auckland (Comedy Festival, Film Festival, Art Fair) had record crowds this year too.

Theories abound as to why– in these straitened economic times – people are flocking to the arts in droves. No doubt a combination of the various rationales bandied about:- people aren’t travelling as much and are taking advantage of what’s on offer locally; we’re looking for something substantial to feed our souls as the economy sags; there’s a growing need to interact with people as we find ourselves chained to screens, etc. I have to admit to a certain amount of arts envy in Melbourne.

Pronounced the second UNESCO City of Literature this year, this has concentrated the minds of politicians and others on support for literature-related arts in Victoria. They’re loud and proud about their new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (due to open in November) which will house various organisations, like the MWF crew, the Emerging Writers Festival, and the Victorian Writers’ Centre.

Perhaps Auckland the Super City will effect a similar gathering together of like-minded organisations? Now there’s a thought.

Closer to home, I can recommend the GOING WEST literary weekend - famed and fabulous, it starts this Friday 11 and runs through the weekend. Don’t miss out.

Here’s more info at this link and you could have a look a Nicola Strawbridge’s blog on the NZ Book Month site for some inside action.