The 2020 Winter Series streamed live and free-to-view on the Festival’s YouTube and Facebook channels, every Sunday morning 3 May - 26 July. It is then available as a video or podcast via our soundcloud, iTunes or our website.

Episode 13 features:

MAGGIE O'FARRELL (Ireland / Scotland) Acclaimed Irish-British novelist Maggie O'Farrell has won numerous awards for her books including the Betty Trask, the Somerset Maugham and the Costa Book Awards. Her latest novel Hamnet, a recreation of the story of the death of Shakespeare's eleven-year-old son, has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her memoir I am, I am, I am reached number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list.

COLIN THUBRON (England) Travel writer Colin Thubron is considered one of Britain’s finest wordsmiths and was ranked by The Times as one of the 50 greatest post-war British writers. Colin has written 15 travel books, largely focussed on Russia, Central Asia and China, including Mirror to Damascus, Shadow of the Silk Road, and To A Mountain in Tibet’ He is also an accomplished novelist.

ROSE LU (Aotearoa New Zealand) Rose Lu has a master’s in creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington, winning her year’s creative non-fiction prize. Her work has been published in Sport, Pantograph Punch, Turbine Kapohau, and Mimicry and she has recently published the essay collection All Who Live on Islands.

ANN PATCHETT (United States) Beloved American author Ann Patchett has written three non-fiction titles and seven novels, including the Orange-Prize winning Bel Canto and her latest The Dutch House. She is the co-founder of indie bookstore Parnassus Books and in 2012 was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

HOST: PAULA MORRIS (Aotearoa New Zealand) Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua) is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist. The 2019 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, she teaches creative writing at The University of Auckland, sits on the Māori Literature Trust and is the founder of the Academy of NZ Literature.

This series provides an opportunity to champion New Zealand and international books that were to feature at our cancelled May Festival, we encourage you to support writers and NZ publishers and booksellers by purchasing featured books. Order via our Festival bookseller.

The Festival thanks its presentation partner Auckland Live, as well as Copyright Licensing New Zealand and all our generous sponsors, funders, patrons and friends whose support has enabled us to continue our work during these extraordinary times.

Watch each new episode live at 9:00AM every Sunday, 3 May - 26 July.

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