The 2011 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival will hum with tales of human resilience – real life and fictional. “Stories of struggle, sacrifice, and the instinct to maintain a capacity for compassion and human decency in the face of tragedy and injustice are at the forefront of this year’s programme,” says Artistic Director Jill Rawnsley.

We are big fans of photographer Parisa Taghizadeh, who took the great photos of the David Suzuki lecture that are now up on our Facebook page. Having worked with Michael Winterbottom, Artangel and the Serpentine Gallery in London she moved to California in 2004 but, luckily for us, she is now based in Auckland. Her website is www.parisatag.com Check out some of her great work.

In a packed auditorium in Auckland on November 10th, David Suzuki told of a newspaper from across the ditch whose front page joyously described how the Australian dollar had reached parity with the American dollar. It was only upon flicking through it that he noticed, on page 18, a small article noting that 20 percent of the world's plant species could be extinct by the middle of this century.This is a sign that the world hasn’t got its priorities straight, Suzuki said.

One Brown Box: A Storybook Exhibition for Children
6th November 2010 - 18th December 2010

Objectspace, 8 Ponsonby Road, Auckland. Ph 09 376 6216

Mon-Sat 10am-5pm

Tickets are on sale now for this special event.  Join us to hear David Suzuki, In his only Auckland appearance during his last Australian tour. Be inspired to seek out ideas on how to start to live your legacy.

This is a rare opportunity to hear David Suzuki, the iconic, influential and hugely popular Canadian scientist, educator, broadcaster and activist deliver a 'last lecture' - what he describes as a 'distillation of my life and thoughts, my legacy, what I want to say before I die'.

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival in association with The Unversity of Auckland Business School and Allen and Unwin are delighted to present David Suzuki in his only Auckland appearance.

Tickets are now on sale for David Suzuki: The Legacy Lecture at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on Thursday 11 November.

Suzuki is one of the world's leading authorities on climate change and sustainability. he is making a rare visit to New Zealand and will deliver a lecture that aims to inspire you to seek out ideas on how to start to live your legacy.

Book now to avoid disappointment.

Tutor Kathryn Burnett is running a writing workshop in Auckland in October.

This intensive one-day brainstorm writing workshop takes you from the blank page to a basic plan for your new writing project.

Thanks to the British Council UK and the British Council New Zealand,  I spent 17 days in Edinburgh in August. I took in as much as I could (physically and mentally) of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Some stats: this festival is now in its 27th year and runs over 18 days with around 750 events on offer (including family and school events), over 650 authors feature, and visitors to the site number around 200,000.

When the world falls apart, we need to pull together. Live, unrehearsed survival stories told by some of the country's most engaging people. Like a dinner party gone mad.

The New Zealand Book Council, Auckland Museum and Unity Books have gathered a talented, literate and entertaining bunch of people to raise money for the Christchurch Red Cross Appeal.

Oscar Kightley, Emily Perkins, Don McGlashan, Eve De Castro-Robinson, Steve Braunias, Arthur Meek, Noelle McCarthy, Simon Wilson, Marti Friedlander, Hamish Keith, Russell Brown, Leanne Pooley will all tell a true story on the night of September 30 on the theme of SURVIVAL......

A Wellington writer’s first novel will go head-to-head with works by two of our most acclaimed authors as finalists in the country’s most prestigious literary honours.

Alison Wong’s As the Earth Turns Silver was selected for the Fiction category shortlist, along with award-winning author Fiona Farrell, for her novel Limestone, and award-winning short-story writer Owen Marshall for his collection, Living as a Moon.

View the full shortlist below.