Page 13 - Auckland Writers Festival

FRIDAY 15 MAY
07
LuCkY uS: AMY BLOOM
FRIDAY MAY 15 – 10.00-11.00AM ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CEnTRE
Judged by The New York Times as a writer of “sharp, sparsely beautiful scenes that excitingly defy expectation” Amy Bloom is a bright light on the American literary scene and the author of three collections of short stories and three novels, the latest of which is Lucky Us. Bloom discusses her work and craft with Carole Beu.
08
A LAW LEGEnD: SIR pETER WILLIAMS
FRIDAY MAY 15 – 10.00-11.00AM LOWER nzI ROOM, AOTEA CEnTRE
New Zealand’s pre-eminent advocate, Sir Peter Williams QC, recalls the people and cases that have defined his remarkable career. Ronald Jorgensen, Arthur Allan Thomas, “Mr Asia”, James K Baxter, Winston Peters and many more will be discussed, as will his enduring commitment to justice and penal reform as canvassed in his memoir Peter Williams: The Dwarf Who Moved. A celebration of one of this country’s legal legends, chaired by Bill Ralston.
09
JuSTICE OBSERVED: HELEn GARnER
FRIDAY MAY 15 – 11.30-12.30pM ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CEnTRE
The quest for justice has seldom been more grippingly documented than in the book This House of Grief. The Australian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and journalist Helen Garner witnessed the trial of Robert
Farquharson, charged with murdering his three children by drowning. This is not her first attempt to grapple with complex issues of justice and truth – Joe Cinque’s Consolation and The First Stone canvas equally disturbing territory. The much-awarded, sometimes controversial, Garner talks to Mary Peters. Supported by Platinum Patrons Frances & Bill Bell.
10 LEADInG MEn
FRIDAY MAY 15 – 11.30-12.30pM LOWER nzI ROOM, AOTEA CEnTRE
Novelists Graeme Lay and Thom Conroy have written about two figures in New Zealand’s colonial past: Captain James Cook, the inspiration for Lay’s recently completed fictional trilogy; and Ernst Dieffenbach, the free-spirited German appointed as surgeon and naturalist on the New Zealand Company’s ship “Tory”, who is at the heart of Conroy’s novel The Naturalist. The two writers discuss their leading men and the process of mutating fact into fiction with Catriona Ferguson.
13