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AUCKLAND WRITERS FESTIVAL

11 - 16 MAY 2021

PRIZE-WINNING PARTICIPANTS

This year's Festival is jam packed with fěted authors in possession of prestigious national and international awards and honours, including four New Zealand Poets Laureate presenting rich and original voices. Current holder David Eggleton, is joined by poets Selina Tusitala MarshVincent O'Sullivan and Brian Turner

International Prize Winners are well represented, too with just some of the highlights being: Isabel Allende winner of the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction and the Chilean National Prize for Literature; Behrouz Boochani and Laura Jean McKay both winners of Australia's richest prize, the Victorian Prize for Literature; Neil Gaiman winner of numerous awards including the Newbery and Carnegie Medals; Kazuo Ishiguro winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature; Marilynne Robinson awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Orange Prize for Fiction, National Humanities Medal and Library Congress Prize for American Fiction; Monique Roffey 2020 recipient of the Costa Book of the Year; a Nobel Prize in Literature 1998 for José Saramago author of Blindness2020 Booker prize winner Douglas Stuart; Australian Carrie Tiffany won the WA Premier’s Award for Fiction and Yiyun Li has been awarded the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the Windham Campbell Literature Prize and the Guggenheim Fellowship.
Many of this year's authors have been recognised by the Prime Minister: The Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement has been won by David EggletonPatricia Grace, Paula Green, Witi IhimaeraDame Fiona KidmanBill Manhire Vincent O'Sullivan, CK SteadBrian Turner, Albert Wendt. The Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize has been awarded to Dr Rangi Matamua and Dr Michelle Dickinson who will be joining Professor Sir Peter Gluckman the former Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, in Event 85 On Science.
Award winners of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards (formerly New Zealand Post Book Awards) Pip Adam, Steve Braunius, Kate Camp, Catherine Chidgey, Gina Cole, Adam Dudding, David Eggleton, Witi Ihimaera, Alison Jones, Anne Kennedy, Fiona Kidman, Rebecca Macfie, Paula Morris, Vincent O’Sullivan, Helen Rickerby, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Alison Wong.
And of course, don't miss your chance to see history in the making as the winners of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are announced at the Festival, selected from a shortlist of the year's best.
We can't finish without mentioning some of the award-winning musicians also speaking and performing:  Moana Maniapoto, inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame; Ariana Tikao, the Jillian Friedlander Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Award, Arts Foundation Laureate 2020; Sarah Watkins, Best Classical Artist 2020 NZ Music Awards (jointly with Andrew Beer) and Marlon Williams five-time winner of NZ Music Awards, and APRA Silver Scroll.

HE MAHI TOI TĒNEI
THIS IS ART

"My definition of art has always been the same" says internationally acclaimed artist and activist Ai Weiwei. "It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on a wall."
Dig deep, laugh loud and see sideways as we put the spotlight on a range of artists taking art out of museums and into the world.
The indomitable Ai Weiwei discusses the intersection of art and politics, topics that had a very real impact on his life, when he was detained by the Chinese government in 2011 in Event 38: Conversations; while writer and photographer Garance Dor reflects on her work from its origins capturing candid fashion on the streets, to her current work writing coffee-break sized snippets of personal, philosophical and often hilarious insights about her life in Event 35: A Question of Style
Turning to voices from Aotearoa, in Event 77: Nailing the Shot, award-winning Photographer Jane Ussher talks about her art, from her long career as chief photographer for the NZ Listener to her freelance work bringing to light the hidden treasures of museum collections in beautiful illustrative texts; Dick Frizzell takes us on a fun romp through the colourful history of art, tracking the historical threads that sit within his DNA as a 21st- century artist in Event 31: Me & Art and lauded writer and poet Vincent O'Sullivan opens a window on the significant New Zealand artist Ralph Hotere (Te Aupouri, Te Rarawa) in Event 61, as he talks about his Ockham NZ Book Award shortlisted Ralph Hotere: The Dark Is Light Enough.

FOR THE KIDS

KEEP CALM AND VISIT THE LIBRARY THIS SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Are the approaching school holidays increasing your heart rate? Take a deep breath and take advantage of our top picks for sharing with your kids this school holidays: for the little ones, explore a distinctly New Zealand take on The Owl and the Pussycat in The Midnight Adventures of Ruru and Kiwilaugh with the zany Sir Singlet, cuddle with The Grinny Granny Donkeythe latest offering from the author of the beloved The Wonky Donkey, or head towards sleep in the gorgeously illustrated I am UniverseYounger primary school children will enjoy picture books Whiti: Colossal Squid of the Deep and Rona Moon: Ko Rona Måhina, while you can settle older readers with the fantastic graphic novels The Inkberg Enigma and Mophead Tu. Improve your Te Reo Māori while having fun with Nōu te Ao, e Hika eDr Karena Kelly's brilliant and rhythmic translation of Dr Seuss' Oh, the Places You'll Go!.

PRIZES TO WIN

Our 2021 Honoured Writer is lyric poet and keen environmentalist Brian Turner, a man of both sporting and literary talents, as well as an award-winning writer of 12 poetry collections, memoir, sport biography (Meads and Kronfeld), essays, reviews and more. His most recent book, Landmarks, celebrates the places and people of his beloved Central Otago, continuing the kaupapa of companion work Timeless Land, written with friends and collaborators Owen Marshall and Grahame Sydney. Enter the draw to win a copy of Landmarks by Friday 23 April. 
Six minutes to Midnight starring Dame Judi Dench, Eddie Izzard and Jim Broadbent. In the summer of 1939, influential families in Nazi Germany have sent their daughters to a finishing school in an English seaside town to learn the language and be ambassadors for a future looking National Socialist. A teacher there sees what is coming and is trying to raise the alarm. But the authorities believe he is the problem. Opening in cinemas 22 April. 
We have 5 double passes to giveaway.
Enter the draw to win by Friday 23 April. 
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WITH THANKS TO OUR MAJOR FESTIVAL PARTNERS:



                        
                
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