Join as a Festival Club Member before the 26th February and go in the draw to win a complete set of “Faber Firsts”.

“Faber Firsts” are stylish reprints of first novels by famous Faber authors. Nine are currently available and feature lovely vintage covers.

The set includes William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, an essential read for Festival fans. Upcoming guest John Carey is the author of the first biography of the Nobel Prize-winning William Golding and will be discussing it at the 2010 Festival from 12 – 16 May.

Why do so many local feature films fail at the box office? Where is New Zealand cinema going wrong? In a recent Onfilm opinion piece, producer John Barnett wrote about the general failure of local feature films at the box office.

Script to Screen and the NZ Writers Guild are presenting a conversation between Graeme Mason, CEO of the NZ Film Commission and former head of projects for Channel Four UK, veteran exhibitor Joe Moodabe, and indie distributor John Davies. Local writer / director / producer Vanessa Alexander will MC the event.

The discussion “will focus on the importance of writers, directors and producers identifying an audience wh

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Maurice Gee's novel "Going West" literally comes to life in this gorgeous advertisement for the NZ Book Council.

Auckland agency Colenso BBDO worked with Andersen M Studio in London on the two-minute film, which took eight months to produce.

It was commissioned to inspire New Zealanders to read more books.

New Yorker Festival

I attended the New Yorker Festival in October, thanks in part to the generosity of the New Yorker and especially AWRF09 guest Rhonda Sherman, Director of the Festival.

As a first-time visitor to New York (strange but true), I revelled in the challenge of locating the events in a variety of wonderful venues, including the City Winery, the Directors Guild Theatre and the dining room at Conde Nast’s office.

Wishing I had three or four sentient clones, but only able to be in one place at one time, I left with wonderful memories of stand-out performances...

Read about award-winning books from around the globe.

Take a look at our brief recap of recent literary prizes in Canada, France, Australia, Ireland, the UK, and the Netherlands...

We would like to congratulate Peter Wells, Trustee of AWRF, on his recent Copyright Licensing Ltd (CLL) Writers’ Award for non-fiction.

Peter co-founded the Festival with fellow writer Stephanie Johnson in 1999...

‘The Miniatures - An adventure in the Bren Collection’ by Stephanie Johnson is now on display at the Hawkes Bay Museum and Art Gallery. Stephanie is a Trustee and co-founder of the Festival.

The Miniatures weaves a magical moment around the tiny objects of the Bren collection – a set of miniatures collected in London during the 1930s and 1940s by Reverend Robert Bren. Donated to the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust in 1958 by Rev Bren’s widow, a single black and white photograph and five small dolls remain the only clues of the stories around which the Reverend created this extraordinary collection.