2011 Fringe Programme

Go to the Writers Bios 2011 page to read the profiles of the authors or find a list of events in the 2011 festival programme. Go to the News page for the latest updates on the festival or find background on the festival director, Joan Rosier-Jones.

September 8th - 11th, 2011

Thursday 8th Sept - Reading Rooms at The Green Bench
Six Wanganui artists present Reading Rooms – mixed-media.

Reading Rooms is an art exhibition of literary artworks at the Green Bench project room that coincides with the Real Whanganui Festival and the Whanganui Literary Festival 2011. Five artists are taking part, Sophie Klerk, Catherine Macdonald, Catherine Claypole, Ana Terry and Julian Priest. Each artist has been invited to create a literary artwork or reading room that communicates ideas through language, discusses what language is or deals with the material of literary endeavour. Reading Rooms explores the rich literary cultural heritage of New Zealand. The exhibition will show works that respond to language and literature in all its forms. Each reading room will give the viewer an opportunity to stop and experience the works by providing seating or creating a contemplative space. Reading Rooms creates an artistic analogue to the reading rooms of public libraries where people come together to read and view books from a collection. The work can take the form of picture books, artists’ books and editions, objects, paintings, audio recording, performance, video or assemblage. Readings and performance will be scheduled both at the opening and during the exhibition. Works will also be displayed on the Green Bench Website. The exhibition will open on the 8th September and run to the 30th September 2011.

Friday 9th Sept - Children’s theatre at Collegiate Theatre
Capital E is coming to Whanganui

Capital E is the only organisation in New Zealand that gives children access to a wide range of creative technology and live performance. It is an award-winning facility, based in Wellington, New Zealand, attracting up to 200,000 visitors each year. Capital E is a not-for-profit organisation with the sole focus on children and their creativity. The Whanganui events will be part of the Children’s Festival. On Friday 09 Sept there will be a matinee and an evening performance held at Collegiate Theatre. Times and ticket prices to be confirmed. Find more information and booking details on the Children's Festival page.

Saturday 10th Sept, 9.30am-12.30pm - Community Arts Centre, River Room
A Haiku Poetry Workshop for children Ages 9-15yrs

A Haiku Poetry Workshop for children conducted by renowned poet Ron Riddell & Saray Torres, linguist/translator. This is an introduction to the writing of poetry in the form of Haiku, the three line verse form of Japanese origin. Children will have the opportunity to explore words through images and realized sensitivity to their surroundings. The workshop will last for three hours with a break. “Riddell’s great strength is his positive inspirational vision of human existence. It is a direct view, uncluttered by ego, vanity or obscure references” - Capital Times. “Riddell wants poems to build bridges and heal. He sustains a rhapsodic commitment to poetry that brings our lives to light” Booking essential through I-Site Whanganui Visitor Centre; 31 Taupo Quay (06)349 0508 email: info(at)wanganui.govt.nz

Saturday 10th Sept, 1.30 - 3.00pm - Wanganui District Library & Sarjeant Gallery
Hands-on Pop-Up Book Adventure for 7-9 year olds

Pop! Pop! Pop! Come and learn about pop-up books then make your own. Combine creative writing with art-making techniques. Free of charge, but bookings are essential and spaces limited. Sarjeant Gallery (06) 349 0506 (from late August)

Saturday 10th Sept (all day) - James K Baxter Day
Bus trip to Jerusalem

Join writers and others who have tales to tell about James K Baxter and his life, particularly at Jerusalem. The bus will take you on the amazing journey along River Road stopping at points of interest on the way. Then on to Jerusalem and the graveside of the great poet. There will be readings, poetry and more. Numbers strictly limited. Bring your own lunch or order a special packed lunch when you book. Cost: $15 (lunch extra)

Sunday 11th Sept, 11am-12.30pm - Wanganui District Library & Sarjeant Gallery
Hands-on Pop-Up Book Adventure for 10 - 13 year olds

Pop! Pop! Pop! Come and learn about pop-up books then make your own. Combine creative writing with art-making techniques. Free of charge, but bookings are essential and spaces limited. Sarjeant Gallery (06) 349 0506 (from late August)

Sunday 11th Sept 11.00am - River Room, Community Arts Centre, Taupo Quay
The e-book revolution and self-publishing workshop

It is becoming more acceptable these days to self-publish. Some choose the traditional route of a hard copy, while others step out into cyber space with an e-book. Local author, Alan Clay runs Artmedia (hosts and designers of this website). He is a highly successful e-book author and publisher, and will demystify the secrets of cyber space publishing for you. Ed Boyd has helped many writers realise their dream of a book in print. At H&A they are experts in layout, style and binding, and guide their authors through the process of getting a manuscript from sheets of paper to a book in the hand. Cost: Gold coin

Sunday 11th Sept 2-3pm - River Room, Community Arts Centre, Taupo Quay
Works-in-progress – Wanganui writers read from their work

Local writers open the studios of their minds to read from their works-in-progress The art of writing is alive and very well in Whanganui. Join local writers as they read from their works in progress. You will be delighted with the excellent standard of writing and the entertainment value. Cost: Gold Coin

Carmel Hurdle has worked as a teacher, hotel conference co-ordinator, pine-tree pruner and stand-in sheep-dog and is currently a social worker at Wanganui Hospital. In 1999 she completed the full-time Creative Writing Course at Whitireia Polytechnic and since then has won or been placed in several competitions. Her short story titles include “There are no Instructions for the Vegetable Peeler,” and “Veronica Hughes Thinks of Elephants” The latter has been published in the anthology “A Blackbird Stole My Heart”, and aired on Radio NZ. In 2009 Carmel went to a writer’s retreat house in the hills of Spain for a three month stay where she completed a novel she had been working on for a number of years. She hopes it will be published before she draws the old age pension. While trying to fit writing in around her present hospital social work job, Carmel is now writing a set of stories based on her time in Spain and will read from one of these.

Joy Hay is a retired teacher and psychologist who has been involved with writing family-based memories over the last two years. After finishing "Old Houses, New Gardens," which she self-published for family and friends, she has been engaged for the last year on writing a family history about her eccentric grandfather and his English nurse wife, who spent nine years as a patient in Auckland Mental Hospital, and their two children, her father and her aunt, who became an acclaimed conservationist. She will be reading a section from the preface of this book. Joy is a trustee for the Whanganui Literary Festival Trust.

Terry Cunniffe is a relative new-comer to the art of writing. In 2009 is wife paid for him to go to a writing class as his birthday present and he has never looked back. When he is not pursuing his work as an ergonomics specialist Professor Terry Cunniffe (PhD, FIEHF, MDINZ Patron member NZ Erg.) is writing a series of stories about his old friend, Max. Max is a walking disaster and Terry records the many true stories of Max’s mishaps with verve and humour. He will read one of the stories in the series for your entertainment. Terry is also a frequent and amusing contributor to the Letters to the Editor of the Wanganui Chronicle. He claims that his greatest qualification is that after 47 years together, his wife still seeks out his company. ‘It can't get better than that,’ he said.

Valerie Cowan interests have always included listening to yarns and anecdotes of old relatives and many of her clients when she worked in the community. It is a concern of hers that so many adventures and experiences from the past are being lost because they are not being recorded. She decided to set this situation to rights and began recording and writing, shaping highlights and especially significant events into life stories. Her three books, full of real life situations, capture the lively stories of a number of elderly New Zealanders. Valerie is a Trustee for the Whanganui Literary Festival Trust. She talks to schools and clubs; reads her stories at Old People’s Homes, to children and to adults, encouraging others to write their own stories so that they are not lost forever. She will read from the memoir she is currently working on entitled, The Private Life of a Private’s Wife.

Prabh Moka moved from London four years ago with his wife and two daughters. Recently he changed his ‘trade’ as a chartered accountant for one as a school teacher He said: ‘’Free time in London was spent in the pub. In New Zealand, the openness and space together with my daughters’ love of dragons, fairies and all things magical inspired me to spend free time writing.” Prabh is a Trustee of the Whanganui Literary Festival Trust and was the instigator of the Poetry Competition held in conjunction with World Poetry Day in March this year. He will take you into the fantastic world of his children’s novel,

Since arriving in Wanganui in late 2004, Albert Sword has divided creative time between singing and writing. He has sung with the Operatunity Troubadours and has written produced and appeared in a successful musical entertainment: The Potted Pirates. Albert is writing another show, a companion piece entitled The Potted Mikado, to be performed this September, and plans for a third 'Potted' show are in place for a tribute to the genius of Cole Porter: The Potted Porter. As well as tinkering with musical scripts, Albert has worked steadily on a memoir for some time. Now, almost completed, the memoir has earned the name: My Life As An Opera. The memoir traces the lives of a Scottish immigrant family traveling from Scotland to New Zealand in 1956, and the shock of turning up, unprepared, in a foreign country. Albert describes a sometimes naïve and precocious childhood, his feelings as a child trying to get to grips with what seemed like a new language, new friends, new schools, a new home, all with a heavy Dundee accent that just would not go away.

Sunday 11th Sept, 5.00pm - Whanganui Regional Museum foyer
Cheryl Amos performs children's stories at twilight "Tall Tales in the Museum"

Leading up to this fabulous evening, children of all ages are invited to help create imaginative stories set in the Museum. Add a paragraph, a sentence, or even just a word. Help to write these tall tales then read them as they grow. Free programme. Booking through I-Site Whanganui Visitor Centre; 31 Taupo Quay (06)349 0508 email: info(at)wanganui.govt.nz

Go to the Writers Bios 2011 page to read the profiles of the authors or find a list of events in the 2011 festival programme. Go to the News page for the latest updates on the festival or find background on the festival director, Joan Rosier-Jones. On this site you can also find the programme from the 2009 Literary Festival and the 2007 Literary Festival.

This page was last updated 02/08/2011