Mar 26

Written by: Auckland Writers & Readers Festival
Monday, Mar 26, 2012

Programme announced: check. 
Print programmes distributed: check. 
Tickets on sale: check.
Countdown begins: check.

The full line-up for 2012 has now been announced with over 100 writers and thinkers across more than 80 sessions 9-13 May in Auckland at the Aotea Centre. 

We’ve got a nifty electronic version of the programme which you can find here. Or you can view or request a hard copy of the programme here.
 
There’s so much to talk about in the programme that it’s hard to know where to begin.  So let’s start with one of our very special events, the New Zealand Listener Gala Night, where we set some internationals off on a true storytelling expedition in the style of The Moth and the NZ Book Council’s True Stories Told Live.

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with this wildly entertaining form, participants are given ten minutes to tell a true story about themselves with no props or notes inspired by a theme.  To give you the idea you can look at this collection of MOTH podcasts.

Our inspirational line this year is “What The Dickens?”, it being the 200th anniversary of the great writer’s birth. Check out the fabulous Dickens 2012 website chock full of information about Dickens and birthday celebrations around the world.  And watch 2012 guest Mal Peet talking about descriptive writing at whatthedickens.org.

But back to our phrase which actually originates from another literature great.  It comes from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor with the term ‘Dickens’ referring to the devil.  If your Shakespeare collection isn’t easily at hand, here’s a full version of the play from the MIT website.

On our stage we’re lining up Lemon Andersen, Eoin Colfer, Kate De Goldi, Roddy Doyle, Geoff Dyer, Oliver Jeffers, Anne Kennedy and Jesmyn Ward to do the honours, chaired by the glamorous book ambassador Carol Hirschfeld. 

One of the joys of these events is their one-off nature – you’ll never get the same dynamic twice so you don’t want to miss it.  We’ve got one double pass to giveaway to the New Zealand Listener Gala Night. Simply leave a comment on our Facebook page  with your favourite Dickens title to be in the draw to win.  Entries close end lunchtime Thursday, so get in quick.

Next time, we’ll look at some of the fine fiction stars we’ve got in store for you in May, starting with Jeffrey Eugenides.  To get you in the mood, check out this Salon review of his new novel The Marriage Plot. 

 

Charles Dickens image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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