NEW DATES
Due to COVID 19 the Whanganui Literary Festival Trust has postponed the 2021 Literary Festival until mid-February 2022, with the main Festival taking place 25-27 February immediately after the Fringe activities that run from the 16th - 24th February.
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Friday 25 February
Grand Opening 6.00 – 7.00 pm The evening begins with drinks and nibbles as you mix and mingle with fellow booklovers and authors. Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall will officially open the main weekend of the Literary Festival. Venue: Pioneer Room, War Memorial Centre, Watt St Bookings: Not required Admission: Free Dr Hinemoa Elder
Dr Hinemoa Elder
Friday 8 October 7.30 – 8.30 pm A Contented Life Dr Hinemoa Elder may be best remembered as a television presenter, but she is much more than that. After graduating, she specialised in psychiatry and currently is a child and youth forensic psychiatrist. She is also a Māori strategic leader for Brain Research in New Zealand and a member of the New Zealand Health Review Tribunal. During her doctoral research, she developed a clinical tool that uses cultural and whānau wisdom, alongside clinical knowledge in assisting children with trauma from brain damage. The well being of people and our earth are interconnected, and an understanding of indigenous knowledge is part of a healing process. Summed up in the subtitle of her book, Aroha: Mãori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony with our Planet. Written for everybody, Hinemoa is certain to elucidate its contents. Venue: Concert Chamber, War Memorial Centre, Watt St Bookings: Royal Wanganui Opera House Admission: $15. Door sales available. Saturday 9 October
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Sunday 26 February
Christine Leunens
Christine Leunens
Sunday 26 February 10.00–11.00 am The Oscars Experience Christine Leunens is the author of Caging Skies, the book on which the film Jojo Rabbit was based. Of Italian and Belgian parentage, she has lived in New Zealand since 2006. She has always been interested in film, and won a screenwriting award in 1996 for Best Original Screenplay in France. However, a summer session in English Literature at Oxford University changed her path and she began writing novels. Primordial Soup was her first book. Caging Skies followed. Written in a war museum in Normandy it was nominated for two prestigious French awards. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages. In 2013 Christine attended the Whanganui Literary Festival, sharing the stage with Witi Ihimaera. They discussed having a novel turned into a film script. This time, she discusses with Melita Farley the reality of the experience — from film script to screen, the Oscars experience and worldwide acclaim. Venue: Concert Chamber, War Memorial Centre, Watt Street Bookings: Royal Wanganui Opera House Admission: $15. Door sales available. Cynric Temple Smith
Cynric Temple Smith Sunday 26 February 11.30 – 12.30 pm Reflections on Death: chance, observations and opinions Cynric Temple–Camp moved from Cape Town, South Africa, to New Zealand in the 1980s and lives in Palmerston North where he is a director of Medlab. He has been a pathologist for over 30 years and is regarded as one of New Zealand’s leaders in the field. He is also the author of two riveting memoirs about death, mystery and murder. He describes himself as an aficionado of death and shares his passion in these first–hand accounts. His 2017 work, The Cause of Death, was a bestseller, and his second collection of macabre stories, The Quick and the Dead, has proved just as popular. Both books contain true stories of life and death and outline the unlikely, extraordinary, obscure and often tragic ways humans meet their end. As he lifts the lid on his arcane occupation, Cynric Temple–Camp will provide fascinating insights for his Whanganui Festival audience. Venue: Concert Chamber, War Memorial Centre, Watt Street Bookings: Royal Wanganui Opera House Admission: $15. Door sales available. Pip Adam
Pip Adam Sunday 26 February 1.30 – 2.30 pm Talking About Sound Pip Adam — reviewer, podcaster and writing workshop facilitator, is best known as an award winning author, regarded as New Zealand’s newest top novelist. Her collection of short stories, Everything We Hoped For, was described as an unusually strong first book. In 2018, she won the Acorn Foundation Fiction prize in the Ockham awards, for The New Animals. She is also shortlisted this year with Nothing to See. Dan Kois (culture editor of US website Slate) describes Pip’s novel as ‘a total masterpiece. Gripping, weird, funny, close to the bone. An intense portrait of sobriety, a mystery, a sci-fi novel, an urgent book about living…’ Pip’s interests are wide and varied. Her PhD topic was the built environment, the result of which was her 2013 novel, I’m Working on a Building. Her current interest is in sound. She will talk about this, and the shift in her work from realism to the unreal. Venue: Concert Chamber, War Memorial Centre, Watt Street Bookings: Royal Wanganui Opera House Admission: $15. Door sales available. David Hill
David Hill
Sunday 26 February 3.00 – 4.00 pm Forty Years On David Hill is a man of many parts – author, playwright, poet, columnist, critic and reviewer – spanning four decades, and still going strong. He began his working life as a high school teacher, and after publishing his hugely successful first novel, See Ya Simon, became a full–time writer. Forty years on, he remains a highly regarded author, especially for young readers, from picture books to young adult fiction; he has over 40 books to his name. His latest book is the recently published Coast Watcher, set in New Zealand during WWII. This tense and exciting war adventure, for 8 – 12 year olds, was inspired by the coast watchers of Operation Pacific. David has been widely published internationally and received many awards. He will talk about the vicissitudes, pleasures, and changes that have occurred over his four decade career. He will also address the particular issue of writing for children and young adults. Venue: Pioneer Room, War Memorial Centre, Watt Street Bookings: Royal Wanganui Opera House Admission: $15, numbers limited – bookings essential |
