One of the sponsors of the festival, Otago University Press, is highlighting its stable of local poets, essayists, and academic writers, in a variety of sessions.
Poet laureate David Eggleton will be playing a prominent role in the festival, appearing at the opening gala showcase tonight, and also launching his latest collection The Wilder Years: Selected Poems.
The official launch will follow a discussion of the collection by Eggleton and fellow poet Victor Billot, on Saturday, from 5.30pm at Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
On Sunday Eggleton will join fellow poets Jessica Thomson Carr and Fiona Farell, with chair Emma Neale, in sharing their perspectives on the politics of poetry.
They will discuss how, for centuries, poetry has played an important role in reflecting culture, and how it can help challenge and subvert society’s rules.
Also on Sunday, Thomson Carr and Farell, joined by poets Victor Billot, and Rhian Gallagher, will take to the mic to read some of their latest work.
Co-editor Jacinta Ruru will discuss the creation of Nga Kete Matauranga: Maori Scholars at the Research Interface tonight from 5.30pm at Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Ruru describes the book as "an opportunity to provide New Zealanders with an insight into how Matauranga is positively influencing the Western-dominated disciplines of knowledge in the research sector".
