Page 23 - Auckland Writers Festival

56 FREE EVEnT
MEMORY LOSS
SATuRDAY MAY 16 – 6.00-7.00pM uppER nzI ROOM, AOTEA CEnTRE
Poet and violinist Anna Smaill’s acclaimed debut novel The Chimes constructs a world ruled by a large musical instrument, and navigated via a musical language. It’s also a place where people are incapable of retaining memories. Bernard Beckett’s Lullaby envisages a world where memories, like body organs, can be transplanted. Futuristic, philosophical and written in inventive prose, both novels invite readers to consider life’s essentials. Smaill and Beckett join Paula Morris for a discussion of fiction and memory.
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SpECIAL EVEnT
An EVEnInG WITH HARukI MuRAkAMI
SATuRDAY MAY 16 – 7.30-8.45pM ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CEnTRE
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is at the vanguard of the literary world, responsible for more than 20 titles which marry realism and surrealism,
the everyday with the dreamlike, to spellbinding effect. From Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to 1Q84, Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and The Strange Library, Murakami charms and challenges us as readers and global citizens. Don’t miss him in his only Australasian appearance in conversation with US editor and writer John Freeman. Supported by Platinum Patrons Josephine & Ross Green.
Earlybird $35; Standard $40; Patrons $32; Students $20.
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SpECIAL EVEnT pOETRY IDOL
SATuRDAY MAY 16 – 8.00-10.30pM LOWER nzI ROOM, AOTEA CEnTRE
Our sell-out slam is back. Having survived the rigours of auditioning with MC Penny Ashton, 10 poets
go head-to-head for the Festival Champion crown, and for $500 to boot. This year’s judges include English comedian and classics nut Natalie Haynes, Australian poetry slam champion Zohab Zee Khan
and hip-hop musician turned poet Tourettes. Wanna step up? To book an audition on May 10, email the Festival at info@writersfestival.co.nz by May 7.
Earlybird $15; Standard $20. (Tickets are a mix of seated and standing on a first come, first served basis.)
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SpECIAL EVEnT
THE WORLD’S WIFE
SATuRDAY MAY 16 – 9.00-10.15pM LIMELIGHT ROOM, AOTEA CEnTRE (CASH BAR)
British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy joins actors Fiona Samuel and Rachel House in a performance of The World’s Wife, Duffy’s poetry collection of the same name in which unappreciated women are given free rein. There’s Queen Herod and Frau Freud as well as Queen Kong, the Kray Sisters
and Mrs Aesop, who opines that “By Christ, he could bore for Purgatory.” David Long provides musical accompaniment to the readings. One of only two performances.
A British Council Series event. Standard $40; Patrons $32.
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