Nov
26
Written by:
Auckland Writers & Readers Festival
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
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: Salman Rushdie’s beautifully modulated reading of a love story or sorts between two “grumpy old men”; a discussion between Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner (and back in NZ he was the keynote speaker at the Screen Production and Development Association of New Zealand annual conference in November, and here’s a 45 minute interview on Kim Hill), global director of media arts for TBWA Worldwide and creator of iconic Apple commercials (amongst numerous others) Lee Clow, and ex-Sony exec Steve Stoute, matchmaker to Jay-Z and Reebok; an amiable and modest session with character actors Joan Cusack, John Turturro, Christine Baranski, Richard Kind and Luis Guzmán; the instantly recognisable Wallace Shawn in conversation with John Lahr about his lifetime of playwriting, panellists George Saunders, Donald Antrim, A.M. Homes and Gary Shteyngart, and the humour review - Noah Baumbach’s performance of “Buzzed”, inspired by a Times article about scientists in Australia dropping liquefied freebase cocaine on bees’ backs to learn more about the biochemistry of addiction, stays with me.
You can have your own New Yorker Festival experience by going to the blog which includes video footage of events.
And click here to view footage from previous years’ festivals.
I’d highly recommend that if you’re planning a trip to NY, you consider mid-October so you can join in the fun. I spoke to fellow queuers from all over the US who were only mildly surprised about how far I’d come to be there. Most asked question of my trip: how many hours does it take to get here? (Sigh, don’t they watch David Letterman?)
Toronto: the 30th International Festival of Authors
I zipped up to Toronto for more festival fervour, taking in a wonderful session with Diana Athill and Alice Munro in conversation on the day I arrived. Found myself truly star-struck in the signing line … Thanks to Geoffrey Taylor, Tim Waterhouse and all of the folk at IFOA for a warm welcome: such a treat to be on the other side of the stage. There are numerous blog posts from the intrepid bloggers at the Globe and Mail including a variety of podcasts.
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