From humble beginnings, the Queenstown Writers Festival appears to have officially cemented itself in New Zealand’s literary calendar.
Officially starting at Te Atamira tonight with ‘Verses and Voices’, an evening of spoken word performances from four of New Zealand’s leading poets, by Sunday evening 32 different events, including workshops, conversations, library events and theatre performances will be held in Queenstown, at Te Atamira, and in Wānaka.
Festival chair Tanya Surrey, a local lawyer, says not only is it the biggest festival to date, it’s also the first one held outside "the Covid environment".
And, for the first time, festival organisers have been actively approached by authors from across the country, hoping to participate.
While that’s welcome, it’s also presented some challenges — Surrey notes it’s "so hard to choose" writers to participate, given the diversity and calibre of New Zealand writing these days.
Included in the lineup this year are Kiwi broadcaster Paddy Gower, who’s recently launched his first book, This Is The F#$%-ing News, journalist Steve Braunias, who’ll talk about The Survivors: Stories of Death and Desperation, the third and final book based on his court reporting, and former TV personality Jude Dobson, who’ll talk about The Last Secret Agent, the story of Pippa Latour, one of the last female special operations agents in France to get out alive after its liberation in World War 2.
Surrey says they, and others, represent the largest non-fiction writing programme the festival’s ever had.
Along with a host of well-known authors, local writers are also taking centre stage during Sunday’s ‘On Impulse: The Sampler Session’, featuring six rising local writers who’ll read either a published piece, or a work-in-progress, while Remarkable Theatre will also perform two one-act plays, Chook Chook and Love Letters.
"It’s a very young festival ... [but] I’m hopeful we have a reputation for being a dynamic and interesting festival and, obviously [in] the wonderful space of Queenstown."
She’s particularly grateful to the funding organisations, sponsors and patrons who’ve enabled the charitable trust to hold the festival annually, something they hope to continue.
The festival will be officially opened by Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Goldsmith at Te Atamira tomorrow. Surrey says tickets to all sessions are available online, via qtwritersfestival.nz, and there’ll also be door sales.
