The New Zealand Festival Writers Week programme (Fri 7 - Wed
12 March) has just been released. It is crammed full of wonderful talks and sessions - and it's the best Writers
Week for years for anyone interested in books (both writing and illustrating)
for children and young adults.
This session is top of my list:
Sat 8 March 12.15pm: An hour with much-loved local author Jack
Lasenby, in conversation with Kate De Goldi. Jack Lasenby is the patron of the
WCBA and it would be great to see lots of WCBA members there. But it's on at
the Hannah Playhouse which is not a big venue and tickets have been on sale for
some time, so you might need to be quick to get in.
If you are wondering what else to choose, here are a few more
suggestions (Sunday in particular looks like a busy day):
Sun 9 March 9.15am: Creating readers - results of a survey
of 7,000 young readers about their reading habits, by Kids Lit Quiz creator
Wayne Mills and early childhood specialist Celeste Harrington
Sun 9 March 10.45am: Kei reira nga weriweri: Learn to read a
classic picture book (Where the wild things are) in te reo Maori.
Sun 9 March 12.15pm: An hour with Swedish writer Ulf Stark,
in conversation with his translator and publisher in New Zealand, Julia
Marshall of Gecko Press.
Sun 9 March 3.15pm: The man that books built - an hour with
Francis Spufford, author of The child
that books built, in conversation with Kate De Goldi. (Spufford also
appears in another session on Sat 8 March at 12.15pm: Having faith in the 21st
century.)
Sun 9 March 6pm: an invitation from Gecko Press to the
launch of Mary McCallum's first novel for children, Dappled Annie and the Tigrish, at St James Theatre
Mon 10 March 9.15am: Ideas that go bang! - an hour with
Belgian illustrator and writer Leo Timmers, in conversation with Simon
Waterfield, award-winning designer for Learning Media
Mon 10 March 10.45am: Comicsville - this session includes
cartoonist, writer and illustrator Dylan Horrocks.
Mon 10 March 12.15pm: Idea + design + text = ? with
Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinksy (who produced the brilliant H.O.U.S.E. and D.E.S.I.G.N.
books.)
Mon 10 March 4.45pm NZ Book Council lecture by Eleanor
Catton. However, if you do book this, be prepared to shove your way out of the
crowds at the Embassy and sprint across town for:
Mon 10 March 6.15pm 2014 Janet Frame Memorial Lecture by
Gavin Bishop. This is an annual literary "state of the nation" speech
sponsored by the NZSA and given by the NZSA President of Honour. This year,
Gavin proposes to focus on "the value and standing of children's
literature and of illustration." (Gavin's talk is second on my list.)
Wed 12 March 4.45pm: Letting the ghosts in - an hour with
Elizabeth Knox, in conversation with Steven Gale
And for some lucky illustrators, there are two workshops:
Live drawing with Leo Timmers, Mon 10 March 2pm (2 hrs; $45)
Icons, symbols and illustration (with the Mizielinksys), Wed
12 March 9.30am (2 hrs; $45)
Most sessions are $18 (some are more) which means you have
to pick and choose carefully, but there is also free stuff:
Big ideas for breakfast, from 7.45am on Mon 10 - Wed 12
March at the Jimmy Cafe and Bar, St James Theatre. (Free except for the price
of an early morning coffee.)
The Curioseum: stories read by Joy Cowley, Kyle Mewburn, Jo
Randerson, Dave Armstrong, Antonio Te Maioha and Elizabeth Knox at Te Papa, Sat
8 March 20pm in Te Marae
And there is plenty, plenty more - get hold of a copy of the
programme or look it up online and try and get along to some of these sessions.
It would be great for the Writers Week organisers to see how much we appreciate
having talks in there that are directed at members of the children's writing and illustrating community.
