Page 29 - Auckland Writers Festival

a seminal work and a set text for many teenage New Zealanders. Semi- autobiographical, it soared beyond the social realism that dominated much of New Zealand’s literature
at the time (and perhaps still does), winning the NZ Literary Fund Award for Achievement in 1958 and finding an international audience. Poetic and experimental, Owls Do Cry recounts the story of the Withers family gently exploring mental health, poverty and loneliness. The Festival’s giant bookclub reconvenes, led by Kate
De Goldi, Anne Kennedy, Courtney Sina Meredith and Scotsman Damian Barr, to share readers’ responses to this groundbreaking work. Presented in a partnership between the Auckland Writers Festival & the NZ Book Council.
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FREE EVEnT
FOuR FOR FIFTY READInGS SESSIOn
A GRApHICS AFFAIR
SunDAY MAY 17 – 4.30-5.20pM LIMELIGHT, AOTEA CEnTRE
Four of New Zealand’s leading graphics authors take the stage to present stories from their work. Join Rachel Fenton (graphic poetry), Damon
Keen (climate change comics), Sam Orchard (LGBT stories) and Ant Sang (The Dharma Punks), introduced by Christine O’Brien.
2015 HOnOuRED nEW zEALAnD WRITER
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FREE SpECIAL EVEnT
C.k. STEAD
SunDAY MAY 17 – 6.00-7.00pM ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CEnTRE
C.K. Stead is one of New Zealand’s foremost literary figures. A distinguished novelist, literary critic, poet, essayist and Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, Stead has won many awards and fellowships. He became a Member of the Order of New Zealand in 2007, and is one of only two living writers to hold that honour. Internationally published and reviewed, Stead’s major novels include Smith’s Dream, All Visitors Ashore, My Name Was Judas, Mansfield, Talking About O’Dwyer, The Singing Whakapapa, and The Secret History of Modernism, alongside essays, criticism and major poetry collections. Stead is known for his quick mind and frank views, a confessional voice, and an ease of prose that makes him both accessible and deeply meaningful. His singular place in the cultural life of this country is celebrated in this free session to end the Festival, chaired by Ruth Harley.
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