Page 59 - Auckland Writers Festival

MICHAEL HuRST nEW zEALAnD
Actor / director Michael Hurst’s range extends from Shakespeare to musical theatre and pantomime. He has worked with every major New Zealand theatre company and has screen credits for more than 50 roles, including Iolaus in Hercules: The Legendary Journey. michaelhurst.co.nz @MichaelHurstNow
WITI IHIMAERA nEW zEALAnD
One of New Zealand’s most celebrated writers, Witi Ihimaera is the bestselling author of 15 novels including The Matriarch (1986), The Whale Rider (1987) and Bulibasha (1994), and seven short story collections. 2014 saw the publication of Mäori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood, the first volume of his memoir.
AnnA JACkSOn nEW zEALAnD
Associate Professor Anna Jackson teaches English Literature at Victoria University of Wellington and is the author of six collections of poems, the most recent of which, I, Clodia (2014), includes poems inspired by the story of Clodia Metelli and her relations with her paramour Catullus.
STEpHAnIE JOHnSOn nEW zEALAnD
Stephanie Johnson has published novels, short story collections and poetry, and has also written for the stage and screen. She is a founding trustee of the Auckland Writers Festival. Her new book The Writers Festival (2015) follows on from The Writing Class (2013).
DAMOn kEEn nEW zEALAnD
Cartoonist and graphic designer Damon Keen is the editor of the New Zealand comic anthology, Faction, and co-founder of Earth’s End, a boutique graphic novel publishing house. Faction Comics has recently released a special comic collection called High Water, which explores the challenges of climate change for New Zealand.
AnnE kEnnEDY nEW zEALAnD
Anne Kennedy is a novelist, poet and screenwriter whose work includes the award-winning poetry collection The Darling North (2012) and the novel The Last Days of the National Costume (2013) which is shortlisted for the 2015 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She teaches fiction and screenwriting at the Manukau Institute of Technology.
zOHAB zEE kHAn AuSTRALIA
Zohab Zee Khan is the current Australian Poetry Slam Champion, as well as a didgeridoo player, harmonica beat-boxer and hip-hop artist. He has toured Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe to sell-out crowds and has just published his first book, I write – half a decade of slam poetry.
@Zohabk
RACHAEL kInG nEW zEALAnD
Rachael King is the Literary Director of WORD Christchurch and the author of Magpie Hall (2009), The Sound of Butterflies (2006) and Red Rocks (2012). In between programming literary events, she is writing two novels, one for adults and one for children.
GRAEME LAY nEW zEALAnD
Writer and editor Graeme Lay is one of our most accomplished crafters of fiction and non-fiction for adults and young adults. His latest fiction project has been a trilogy based on the life
of Captain Cook which he completes this year with the publication of James Cook’s Lost World.
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