2012 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival Programme

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Wednesday 9th May

2012 SCHOOLS PROGRAMME

2012 SCHOOLS PROGRAMME

Date: Wednesday 9th May 2012 - Thursday 10th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 02:30 p.m.
Venue: AOTEA CENTRE, AUCKLAND
Category: FILM AND THEATRE, INTERNATIONAL FICTION, NZ FICTION, NZ NON FICTION, POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS, WAR, REVOLUTION AND JOURNALISM, YOUNG READERS
Price: Please download programme for further information.

CELEBRATING WRITING, BOOKS AND WRITING The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival is delighted to once again present its much-anticipated Schools’ Programme, in the Aotea Centre in Auckland on... More
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Thursday 10th May

01. SPY STORIES: LUNCH WITH STELLA RIMINGTON - SOLD OUT

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01. SPY STORIES: LUNCH WITH STELLA RIMINGTON - SOLD OUT

Date: Thursday 10th May 2012
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: Soul Bar & Restaurant
Category: CRIME AND INTRIGUE, GREAT READS, SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: Standard $95, Patrons $76

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS SOLD OUT - You can still see Dame Stella in An Hour with Stella Rimington. Dame Stella Rimington has lived a myriad of lives: archivist, diplomat’s wife, spymaster and... More
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02. NEW ZEALAND LISTENER GALA NIGHT

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02. NEW ZEALAND LISTENER GALA NIGHT

Date: Thursday 10th May 2012
Time: 07:00 p.m. - 08:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: Earlybird $35, Standard $40, Patrons $32, Students $20

The highly successful ‘True Stories Told Live’ format, developed by the NZ Book Council, returns to launch this year’s Festival in an hour and half of live and true storytelling,... More
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Friday 11th May

03. LOOKING TO ASIA: BUSINESS BREAKFAST WITH CHANDRAN NAIR

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03. LOOKING TO ASIA: BUSINESS BREAKFAST WITH CHANDRAN NAIR

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 07:30 a.m. - 09:00 a.m.
Venue: THE LANGHAM, AUCKLAND
Category: POLITICS AND BUSINESS, SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: Standard $60, Patrons $52. Tables of 8 can be booked together - buy 7 get 8th free: Standard $420, Patrons $336

With our future inextricably linked to Asia, the issues facing that continent are ones of major importance.  International speaker and expert on globalisation in Asia, Chandran Nair (Malaysian-born, now based... More
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04. A TRAIN IN WINTER: CAROLINE MOOREHEAD

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04. A TRAIN IN WINTER: CAROLINE MOOREHEAD

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

A Train In Winter is a moving story of solidarity and survival emerging out of the Nazi horrors of the Second World War and the French Resistance.   Caroline Moorehead ’s book recounts the... More
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05. AN HOUR WITH WITI IHIMAERA

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05. AN HOUR WITH WITI IHIMAERA

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

The Parihaka Woman is Witi Ihimaera ’s first publication since his controversial The Trowenna Sea (2009). This new book is an eclectic combination of fiction and history with echoes of traditional... More
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63. WORKSHOP: JESMYN WARD - MAKING IT REAL

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63. WORKSHOP: JESMYN WARD - MAKING IT REAL

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Much of the power of National Book Prize winner Salvage The Bones (2011) lies in the coherence of the characters and their relationships – they seem very real.   Jesmyn Ward has been quoted as... More
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06. McCAHON AND THE MICRONAUT

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06. McCAHON AND THE MICRONAUT

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: NZ NON FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Martin Edmond and Gregory O’Brien illuminate the pilgrimages undertaken to get to the heart of two New Zealand artists abroad.   In Dark Night: Walking with McCahon (2011) Edmond retraces... More
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07. GREG 'ALIX BOSCO' MCGEE

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07. GREG 'ALIX BOSCO' MCGEE

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: GREAT READS, NZ FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Successful pseudonyms are rare in New Zealand, but Greg McGee well and truly pulled it off.   As Alix Bosco he won the Ngaio Marsh Crime Award for Cut and Run (2009), and was shortlisted for the same... More
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08. AN HOUR WITH SEBASTIAN BARRY

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08. AN HOUR WITH SEBASTIAN BARRY

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Prizewinning and Booker-nominated Irish novelist, playwright and poet, Sebastian Barry has kept company with Lilly, the main character of his new novel On Canaan’s Side (2011), since 1993 when she featured... More
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09. CAPTAIN BLIGH

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09. CAPTAIN BLIGH

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ NON FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Luminary historian Dame Anne Salmond speaks with Paul Diamond about her internationally acclaimed triumph Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas (2011), a history inspired by her research for the earlier ... More
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64. WORKSHOP: HINEMOANA BAKER - LANGUAGE AND SOUND

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64. WORKSHOP: HINEMOANA BAKER - LANGUAGE AND SOUND

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 01:30 p.m. - 03:00 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Poet and musician Hinemoana Baker wrangles words, from published poems on the page to speaking improvised lines over the sounds of recycled kitchen utensils covered in contact microphones, or singing poems over the... More
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10. AN HOUR WITH MICHAEL HASTINGS - CANCELLED

10. AN HOUR WITH MICHAEL HASTINGS - CANCELLED

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue:
Category: WAR, REVOLUTION AND JOURNALISM
Price: CANCELLED

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED. FOR INFORMATION ON EXCHANGING OR REFUNDING TICKETS PLEASE CLICK HERE . The removal of General McChrystal as Troop Commander in Afghanistan was directly attributable to a ... More
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11. THE FORRESTS - EMILY PERKINS

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11. THE FORRESTS - EMILY PERKINS

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, NZ FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Dorothy Forrest is immersed in the sensory world around her - she lives in the flickering moment. From the age of seven, when her odd, disenfranchised family moves from New York City to the wide skies of Auckland,... More
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12. BROKEN BRITAIN

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12. BROKEN BRITAIN

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: POLITICS AND BUSINESS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

  These are challenging times for Britain, with economic crises across much of Europe and political, social, financial and cultural issues to the fore in the United Kingdom.  English residents... More
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13. AN HOUR WITH CHARLOTTE WOOD

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13. AN HOUR WITH CHARLOTTE WOOD

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Rising star of Australian fiction Charlotte Wood comes to New Zealand with her recent novel Animal People (2011). Moving, funny and quintessentially Australian, Animal People takes place on a single Sydney... More
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14. A UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING

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14. A UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 05:30 p.m. - 06:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

In the mere span of a human lifetime, our understanding of the universe has changed completely.   Celebrated prize-winning scientist, public intellectual and accomplished speaker Professor Lawrence... More
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15. ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE DELTORA THREE

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15. ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE DELTORA THREE

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 05:30 p.m. - 06:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: YOUNG READERS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl, creation of the inimitable Eoin Colfer , has been entertaining readers for the past 10 years, with the last of the series Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian due out shortly. ... More
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16. AN EVENING WITH RODDY DOYLE

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16. AN EVENING WITH RODDY DOYLE

Date: Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 07:00 p.m. - 08:15 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, INTERNATIONAL FICTION, SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: Earlybird $35, Standard $40, Patrons $32, Students $20

Booker Prize winner and Irishman Roddy Doyle first stole our hearts with his novel The Commitments (1987), which was turned into the incredibly popular 1991 film of the same name. Since then he has published a... More
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Saturday 12th May

65. CREATIVITY WORKSHOP: KATHRYN BURNETT - BRAINSTORM

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65. CREATIVITY WORKSHOP: KATHRYN BURNETT - BRAINSTORM

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012 - Friday 11th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Kathryn Burnett returns with her highly popular “directed creativity” sessions, a fun way to generate new ideas and get creatively invigorated. Designed to stimulate imagination, this dynamic... More
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17. AN HOUR WITH PETER JAMES

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17. AN HOUR WITH PETER JAMES

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: CRIME AND INTRIGUE, GREAT READS, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Award-winning crime writer Peter James , whose books have sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, continues to shepherd his detective Roy Grace through a myriad of mysteries.  The latest, Dead... More
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18. COLENSO: PETER WELLS

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18. COLENSO: PETER WELLS

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ NON FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Early missionary William Colenso slipped off the historical map, to be known only as a difficult person, a bristlingly square peg in a round hole. In 2011 Peter Wells published The Hungry Heart - Journeys with... More
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19. HELPING CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Free Event

19. HELPING CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: FREE

The Canadian Arrowsmith Program is founded on the philosophy that it is possible to treat learning disabilities by identifying and strengthening cognitive capacities. Based on the personal experience of its... More
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20. THE AFGHAN WAR

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20. THE AFGHAN WAR

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: FISHER & PAYKEL AUDITORIUM, UNIVERISTY OF AUCKLAND
Category: POLITICS AND BUSINESS, WAR, REVOLUTION AND JOURNALISM
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Writers on Campus PLEASE NOTE: MICHAEL HASTINGS IS NO LONGER APPEARING AT THIS EVENT. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CLICK HERE. Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings ’s piece on the US troops... More
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21. THE INCREDIBLE BOOK ARTIST OLIVER JEFFERS

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21. THE INCREDIBLE BOOK ARTIST OLIVER JEFFERS

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: INTERNATIONAL FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS, YOUNG READERS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Wear your most colourful woollen jumper and bring your children to celebrate the publication of Oliver Jeffers ’ The Hueys. An exquisite artist and creator of much-loved, award-winning books including ... More
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22. THE FUTURE OF THE NOVEL

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22. THE FUTURE OF THE NOVEL

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

In The Marriage Plot (2011), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides ’ latest novel, Madeleine Hanna posits the theory that the novel as a form has been fatally wounded by the modern breakdown of... More
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23. NZ IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Free Event

23. NZ IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, FREE EVENTS, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ NON FICTION
Price: FREE

Dr. Paul Moon is one of New Zealand’s most prolific historians, producing 19 books in 13 years. He is also one of our most controversial, having had several public stoushes on subjects including versions... More
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24. IN THE SHADOW OF HISTORY

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24. IN THE SHADOW OF HISTORY

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: FISHER & PAYKEL AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
Category: FINE FICTION, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Writers on Campus     Three of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival’s international fiction stars discuss setting their fictional stories in the shadow of real, sometimes overwhelming,... More
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66. WORKSHOP: CAROLINE MOOREHEAD - THE ART OF BIOGRAPHY

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66. WORKSHOP: CAROLINE MOOREHEAD - THE ART OF BIOGRAPHY

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 12:30 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Caroline Moorehead is an accomplished biographer and journalist with books on Bertrand Russell, Freya Stark and, most recently,a group of French resistance women who survived Auschwitz recorded in A Train In Winter... More
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25. CONSUMPTIONOMICS - THE MICHAEL KING MEMORIAL LECTURE

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25. CONSUMPTIONOMICS - THE MICHAEL KING MEMORIAL LECTURE

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: POLITICS AND BUSINESS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Author, investment advisor and think tank founder Chandran Nair is a second-generation Malay of Indian descent, now based in Hong Kong. He advocates a new model of capitalism for Asian economies –... More
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26. AN HOUR WITH ANTHONY MCCARTEN

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26. AN HOUR WITH ANTHONY MCCARTEN

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FILM AND THEATRE, GREAT READS, NZ FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Expat New Zealand writer, scriptwriter and film director Anthony McCarten returns home with two new novels. In the Absence of Heroes (2012) is a sequel to his award-winning Death of a Superhero (2006), now... More
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27. A FINE PROSPECT: AUCKLAND'S EAST

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27. A FINE PROSPECT: AUCKLAND'S EAST

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ NON FICTION
Price: FREE

Following on from their highly successful history of Ponsonby, historians Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow turn their attention to Auckland’s beautiful eastern suburbs of Remuera, Meadowbank and St Johns on... More
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28. WILD POETS, EXTRAORDINARY WORDS

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28. WILD POETS, EXTRAORDINARY WORDS

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: FISHER & PAYKEL AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
Category: POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Writers on Campus   Enjoy an hour of spoken word performance with seven amazing artists: Tony award-winning Def Jam artist Lemon Andersen and Australian Poetry Slam Champion Luka Lesson ... More
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29. SNOWDROPS: A.D. MILLER

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29. SNOWDROPS: A.D. MILLER

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: CRIME AND INTRIGUE, FINE FICTION, GREAT READS, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

A.D. Miller ’s first novel Snowdrops (2011) shot him to instant fame with a short listing for the Man Booker Prize. A portrait of moral decline in Moscow, Snowdrops draws us into a city of neon lusts... More
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30. AN HOUR WITH DAME FIONA

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30. AN HOUR WITH DAME FIONA

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, NZ FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Dame Fiona Kidman ’s latest, The Trouble With Fire , is a collection of 11 intriguing short stories set mostly in her hometown of Wellington. Fire changes lives, it destroys – but it also illuminates... More
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31. THE ORATOR - FILMMAKER TUSI TAMASESE

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31. THE ORATOR - FILMMAKER TUSI TAMASESE

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FILM AND THEATRE, FREE EVENTS
Price: FREE

One of the standout New Zealand films of 2011, Tusi Tamasese ’s The Orator is the first full length film made in Samoan.  It wowed audiences and critics at home and abroad, premiering in competition... More
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32. TWEETING THE REVOLUTION

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32. TWEETING THE REVOLUTION

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: FISHER & PAYKEL AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
Category: WAR, REVOLUTION AND JOURNALISM
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

In 2010 Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted for The New Yorker .   Eighteen months on, events in the Middle East potentially challenge the thesis while discussions continue on... More
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67. WORKSHOP: MARTIN EDMOND - CREATIVE NON-FICTION

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67. WORKSHOP: MARTIN EDMOND - CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 04:00 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Creative non-fiction is an intriguing pursuit, combining as it does what is on record with the vast reaches of a writer’s creative imagination.  Martin Edmond is a master of the craft and in this... More
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33. HIGH TEA: THE GENEROSITY OF FOOD

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33. HIGH TEA: THE GENEROSITY OF FOOD

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 03:30 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: THE LANGHAM AUCKLAND
Category: SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: Standard $55, Patrons $44

  A celebration of love, food and family, this pre Mothers’ Day High Tea treat brings together winning cooks and food writers to talk about how food comforts and nourishes, and how giving and sharing... More
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34. AN HOUR WITH RHYS DARBY

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34. AN HOUR WITH RHYS DARBY

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: NZ FICTION, POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

In This Way To Spaceship (2012) internationally acclaimed New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby delivers a “handy, loosely autobiographical, end of the world companion” inspired by the predicted Armageddon... More
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35. THE GOD MATTER

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35. THE GOD MATTER

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT American physicist and intellectual Lawrence Krauss , in his new book A Universe from Nothing (2012), argues that quantum physics has clearly established no God is... More
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36. SMALL HOLES IN THE SILENCE: A TRIBUTE TO HONE TUWHARE

Free Event

36. SMALL HOLES IN THE SILENCE: A TRIBUTE TO HONE TUWHARE

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, NZ FICTION, POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY
Price: FREE

In 1964, Hone Tuwhare published his first book of poetry No Ordinary Sun . It sold an astounding 700 copies in ten days and was reprinted 13 times. He went on to become our best loved poet ever. Last year... More
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37. AN HOUR WITH STELLA RIMINGTON

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37. AN HOUR WITH STELLA RIMINGTON

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 05:30 p.m. - 06:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: CRIME AND INTRIGUE, GREAT READS, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Rip Tide (2012) is the sixth of the Liz Carlyle thriller novels, which began in 2004 with the publication of At Risk , earning Dame Stella Rimington a reputation as a crafter of rollicking “insider”... More
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38. WHY LYRICS MATTER: BRIAN BOYD

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38. WHY LYRICS MATTER: BRIAN BOYD

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 05:30 p.m. - 06:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: NZ NON FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Professor Brian Boyd is the world’s leading Nabokov scholar, as well as a professor of English at The University of Auckland, with a wide interest in language and story. His most recent Nabokov... More
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39. GIRLS' NIGHT OUT: TASTINGS AND TIARAS WITH KATHY LETTE

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39. GIRLS' NIGHT OUT: TASTINGS AND TIARAS WITH KATHY LETTE

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 06:30 p.m. - 08:30 p.m.
Venue: LIMELIGHT ROOM & ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: GREAT READS, INTERNATIONAL FICTION, SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: Standard $55, Patron $44

An evening of wine, food and fun is in store in the company of international writing diva Kathy Lette , author of a myriad of hilarious and provocative novels for women from Puberty Blues (1979) to her latest The... More
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41. EXILE: AN ATC PLAY READING

Free Event

41. EXILE: AN ATC PLAY READING

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 07:00 p.m. - 08:30 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM , AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, NZ FICTION, POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY
Price: FREE

1939. Exiled German poet Helmut Lagerbrutenfeldt washes up on Auckland’s North Shore. The arrival of a literary star causes much excitement at first, but soon the local literati find themselves challenged by... More
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42. AN HOUR WITH KATHY LETTE

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42. AN HOUR WITH KATHY LETTE

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 07:30 p.m. - 08:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Bold, brash and very clever, Kathy Lette comes to New Zealand to mark the publication of her latest novel The Boy Who Fell To Earth (2012), an energetic tale of the trials and tribulations of a single mother and... More
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40. POETRY IDOL

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40. POETRY IDOL

Date: Saturday 12th May 2012
Time: 07:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY, SPECIAL EVENTS
Price: All tickets $15

  We’re delighted to once again bring you Poetry Idol, a rambunctious, sell-out slam in which 10 poets, from fledglings to the more experienced, go head-to-head for the Festival Champion crown. ... More
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Sunday 13th May

43. AN HOUR WITH JEFFREY EUGENIDES

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43. AN HOUR WITH JEFFREY EUGENIDES

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

One of the major writers of his generation, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer Jeffrey Eugenides has followed up the enormous successes of The Virgin Suicides (2003) and Middlesex (2002) with... More
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44. A MIND FOR MURDER

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44. A MIND FOR MURDER

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: CRIME AND INTRIGUE
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

    PLEASE NOTE: Due to family illness, Jennifer Rowe has had to return to Australia early and will not be able to participate in the A Mind for Murder panel, to be chaired by Craig Sisterson on... More
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45. ORA NUI - A NEW MAORI VOICE

Free Event

45. ORA NUI - A NEW MAORI VOICE

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, FREE EVENTS
Price: FREE

  The launch of Ora Nui , a new journal of Maori writing edited by Anton Blank , was prompted by a passionate belief that the Maori urban and middle class creative voice has been largely silenced by a... More
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68. WORKSHOP: LUKA LESSON - POETRY AND POLITICS

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68. WORKSHOP: LUKA LESSON - POETRY AND POLITICS

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Australian Poetry Slam Champion and co-director of The Centre for Poetics and Justice, Luka Lesson has been writing hip-hop for seven years and competing in poetry slams for three. He’s an exceptional... More
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46. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE IMAGE: DICK FRIZZELL

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46. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE IMAGE: DICK FRIZZELL

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Venue: AUCKLAND ART GALLERY AUDITORIUM
Category: NZ NON FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Sunday Gallery Series In It’s All About The Image (2011), artist Dick Frizzell takes us on a personal tour of New Zealand art via an eclectic mix of major New Zealand paintings, explaining why these... More
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47. OPEN MIKE - POETRY PLEASURES

Free Event

47. OPEN MIKE - POETRY PLEASURES

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 10:15 a.m. - 01:15 p.m.
Venue: AIR NEW ZEALAND FOYER
Category: FREE EVENTS, POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY
Price: FREE

Continuing this much-loved Festival tradition, published poets will read for ten minutes at 25 minute intervals and the rest of the time five minute slots are available to anyone who wants to read – just put your... More
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48. MEN ADRIFT

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48. MEN ADRIFT

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

In an age of changing gender roles, three fine novelists come together to discuss the ‘lost’ men at the centre of their storytelling. Roddy Doyle ’s Bullfighting (2011) is a collection... More
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49. AN HOUR WITH JOAN DRUETT

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49. AN HOUR WITH JOAN DRUETT

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ NON FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

One of New Zealand’s most popular writers, Joan Druett writes both history and historical novels. Her lasting creation, Maori whaler Wiki Coffin, features in a series of mystery novels set along the... More
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50. THEM + US

Free Event

50. THEM + US

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA THEATRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Price: FREE

Danny Vendramini ’s book Them + Us: How Neanderthal Predation Created Modern Humans expounds the controversial theory that Eurasian Neanderthals hunted, killed and cannibalised early humans for 50,000 years,... More
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51. BLACK IN FASHION

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51. BLACK IN FASHION

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Venue: AUCKLAND ART GALLERY AUDITORIUM
Category: NZ NON FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Sunday Gallery Series An illustrated romp through the history of black in New Zealand fashion with Doris de Pont , Fashion Museum founding trustee and editor of new book Black: The History of Black in Fashion,... More
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69. WORKSHOP: FIONA KIDMAN - LIFE WRITING AND MEMOIR

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69. WORKSHOP: FIONA KIDMAN - LIFE WRITING AND MEMOIR

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 12:30 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT No life is ordinary. A record of experience always has value, whether it is for family and friends or designed as a book for publication. In this workshop, participants... More
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52. LIFE AND ART: GEOFF DYER

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52. LIFE AND ART: GEOFF DYER

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FILM AND THEATRE, INTERNATIONAL FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Geoff Dyer is acclaimed for his genre-defying writing, crossing as it does both subject matter (war, film, jazz, photography, literature, travel) and style (criticism, creative non-fiction, commentary, journalism,... More
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53. DIALLING UP THE ANCESTORS

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53. DIALLING UP THE ANCESTORS

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, NZ FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Paula Morris ’ and Stephanie Johnson ’s new novels each centre on a real nineteenth-century ancestor – Paratene Te Manu and Elizabeth Horelock Smith respectively.   Rangatira ... More
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54. THE COMPOSER'S LIFE - NATHAN & JOEL HAINES

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54. THE COMPOSER'S LIFE - NATHAN & JOEL HAINES

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: FREE

Brothers Nathan and Joel Haines are musicians and composers of note, each having carved out successful musical careers. The sons of an accomplished bassist, the pair spent their formative years performing... More
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55. AUCKLAND AFTER HOURS: CHRIS BOURKE

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55. AUCKLAND AFTER HOURS: CHRIS BOURKE

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 01:15 p.m. - 02:15 p.m.
Venue: AUCKLAND ART GALLERY AUDITORIUM
Category: NZ NON FICTION, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Sunday Gallery Series Prize-winning Blue Smoke (2010) author Chris Bourke brings back to life the venues, sounds and changing dance fashions of the Auckland music scene – from the first cabarets and... More
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56. SALVAGE THE BONES

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56. SALVAGE THE BONES

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Winner of the 2011 US National Book Award for Fiction and a 2012 Alex Award for her second novel Salvage the Bones , Jesmyn Ward has written a moving story of a Mississippi Gulf family and their community in the... More
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57. GETTING THE STORY

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57. GETTING THE STORY

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA ROOM
Category: WAR, REVOLUTION AND JOURNALISM
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

  One of the classic challenges of journalism is the tension between nurturing trusted relationships to source stories and revealing what has been discovered along the way. The case of embedded... More
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58. THE EXPATS

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58. THE EXPATS

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 03:30 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FILM AND THEATRE, FREE EVENTS, NZ NON FICTION
Price: FREE

Martin Edmond (creative non-fiction writer), Anthony McCarten (novelist) and Anne Kennedy (poet) have a lot in common: New Zealanders who have cast off for other shores and established writing lives... More
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70. WORKSHOP KATHRYN BURNETT - BRAINSTORM

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70. WORKSHOP KATHRYN BURNETT - BRAINSTORM

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 02:30 p.m. - 04:30 p.m.
Venue: GOODMAN FIELDER ROOM, LEVEL 4, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: WORKSHOPS
Price: All participants $40. Booked by Monday 7 May. Concession passes, student discounts and earlybird discounts not eligible.

Kathryn Burnett returns with her highly popular “directed creativity” sessions, a fun way to generate new ideas and get creatively invigorated. Designed to stimulate imagination, this dynamic... More
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59. COUNTY OF KINGS - THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE

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59. COUNTY OF KINGS - THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, POETRY, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

County of Kings is spoken word performer Lemon Andersen ’s memoir of an astonishing life: the story of the child of heroin addicts who both died of AIDS, he dropped out of high school and spent a few years in... More
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60.THE WOMAN WHO CHANGED HER BRAIN

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60.THE WOMAN WHO CHANGED HER BRAIN

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m.
Venue: LOWER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50

Until recently, theories of neuroscience have posited that the brain can not be changed but the emerging field of neuroplasticity is challenging this view. In The Woman Who Changed Her Brain (2012), Canadian ... More
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61. THE POLITICS OF PRIZES

Free Event

61. THE POLITICS OF PRIZES

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 04:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m.
Venue: UPPER NZI ROOM, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FREE EVENTS, THE ARTS - FASHION, MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS
Price: FREE

  Literary prizes are often highly contentious, with arguments regularly raging about judges, winners, criteria and the ongoing tension between work with broad public reach and more literary craft. In... More
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62. HONOURED NEW ZEALAND WRITER 2012: MAURICE GEE

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62. HONOURED NEW ZEALAND WRITER 2012: MAURICE GEE

Date: Sunday 13th May 2012
Time: 05:30 p.m. - 06:30 p.m.
Venue: ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE
Category: FINE FICTION, NZ FICTION, YOUNG READERS
Price: Earlybird $20, Standard $25, Patrons $16, Students $12.50. FREE FOR UNDER 18s (Tickets must be booked)

In 2012, the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival announces an important new initiative: the introduction of an Honoured New Zealand Writer.  Conceived to celebrate New Zealand’s most accomplished... More
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