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Thrown into pointed focus through the stories of a building, a detainee, a dictator, and an underground criminal organisation, celebrated journalists look at the societal forces that create detention spaces and their devastating effect on the human psyche.
In No Friend But The Mountains (26), Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani chronicles six gruelling years of detention on Australian-run Manus Regional Processing Centre, stuck in indefinite legal limbo.Closer to home, in Rock College (36), Mark Derby shines a light on the history of the forbidding Victorian structure that is New Zealand's most famous jail, Mt Eden Prison. Lauded journalist, currently Editor of The Dominion Post, Anna Fifield presents her insight into the closed dictatorship of North Korea in The Great Successor: The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un (47), while award-winning investigative reporter Jared Savage unpacks the very topical subject of the dark and brutal world of organised crime in Aotearoa with Gangland: New Zealand’s Underworld of Organised Crime (24).
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Thrillers, true crime books, pathologist tales, podcasts, TV series... it seems our appetite for the criminal and the grisly never ceases. Psychologists posit that evil fascinates because it allows us to explore dark worlds from safe surrounds. Is this true and is it healthy?
Forensic pathologist Judy Melinek (Working Stiff) joins journalist and crime reporter Steve Braunius (Missing Persons), in Pathologies (62) to discuss what draws them and their readers to such dark subject matter.
In A Thrilling Quartet (20), four thriller writers with careers on stellar trajectories - Jacqueline Bublitz (Before You Knew My Name), Rose Carlyle (The Girl in the Mirror), Ray Berard (Inside the Black Horse) and Ben Sanders (The Devils You Know) - talk about the genesis of great stories, the experience of attracting such fanfare, and the journey onwards, while in internationally renowned crime-writer Michael Robotham's workshop on compelling characters, he shares how beautifully drawn, believable characters can turn the most simple and straightforward story into gold.
Taste-test some fabulous writing in Persons of Interest (59), which features ten-minute readings from crime-writer TJ Mitchell, Ockham NZ Book Award 2020 Poetry Prize winner Helen Rickerby, historical writer Shona Riddell and biographer Tom Scott.
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A triumphant and imaginative celebration of innovative theatre features throughout the festival:
A theatrical celebration of some of New Zealand fiction’s most inspirational wāhine Māori, Witi’s Wāhine (5 performances) is an evocative and revealing homage to the characters of Witi Ihimaera's The Matriarch, Pounamu Pounamu (and more), and to the real mana wāhine who served as their inspiration.
Blindness (32 performances) is an innovative literary theatre experience conceived by London's Donmar Warehouse as a sound and light installation, in response to the constraints of COVID-19. It’s experienced through headphones, in socially-distanced pairs, under glowing fluorescent lights. With a gripping narration by Juliet Stevenson, Auckland Town Hall’s Concert Chamber will become the theatrical epicentre of a society sent into free fall by a pandemic.
How are the multiple waka of Pasifika theatre navigating current global storms, and what does the future hold? Pasifika playwrights Oscar Kightley and Victor Rodger share their thoughts with Lana Lopesi in Fale Aitu (83).
Writer and storyteller Carrie Tiffany weaves an clever and subversive illustrated reading from her Elizabeth Jolley Short Story winning composition Dr Darnell’s Cure, written whilst researching the early travelling snake showmen of Australia in A Snake Performance (33).
STREETSIDE: Karangahape (34) transforms Auckland's lively Karangahape Road landmarks and businesses into their stage, an extraordinary line-up of writers hit the streets in the Festival’s Friday night extravaganza of literary treats. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s full of surprises.View the full line up of events.
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Auckland Speaks II (08) is a hilarious, powerful and enlightening evening, where the spaces that we call home speak back as young local poets, storytellers and rappers share original works of art from the voice of their home.
Former youth parliamentarian and law student Taa Ramsay Vili addresses the urgent challenge of climate change with three other writers in free event Climate Contemplations (76).
Writer, musician and taonga pūoro practitioner Ruby Solly is a rising star who is curating the Festival's Oro Series, including Our Full Selves: Tō Mātou Katoa (60), a session on the challenges of identity in 21st-century Aotearoa, where many of us walk in two or more worlds; Holding the Pen - Te Pupuri i te Pene (80), on negotiating the writing of whānau and tūpuna stories and Ngā Oro Hou - The New Vibrations (69), an exceptional evening performance which brings together celebrated writers and taonga pūoro practitioners in a lyrical weaving of language and song.
Karawhiua, rangatahi mā! It's your time to shine.
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What do Hamlet, Middlemarch, Fortress Besieged, and The Big Sleep have in common? These classic works have been selected by poet and reviewer Kate Camp and her guests Rick Gekoski, Brannavan Gnanalingham, and Frances Walsh for lively discussion in a special session celebrating 20 years of Kate's Klassics, popular for Kate's highly entertaining insight into literary classics. (86).
Kate Camp also appears in Humans Being Happy (53) in which she will kōrero with literary legend Bill Manhire about her latest poetry collection, How to be Happy Though Human, and his Ockham Longlisted Wow.
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WIN BOOKS & READ UP IN ADVANCE!
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The forbidding Victorian structure That is our most famous jail, Mt Eden Prison, has housed some of the country’s most notorious criminals such as George Wilder, as well as political prisoners including Rua Kenana and Tim Shadbolt. The site of riots and hangings, it is now closed and in a state of disrepair. Historian Mark Derby’s book Rock College: An Unofficial History of Mt Eden Prison reveals the rich history of the building, its inmates and its superintendents. Derby presents a short talk on the prison before being joined by some who have walked its halls to recount tales from behind bars. To win a copy of Rock College, enter by 6 May.
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Booker Prize judge, writer, broadcaster, rare book dealer and all-round polymath Rick Gekoski, whom Tatler once described as “think Bill Bryson, only on books”, has in recent years turned his versatile hand to fiction. First up was novel Darke (published when he was 72) about how we choose to live, and how we choose to die, filtered through recluse James Darke. Sebastian Barry labelled it a “wondrous book with two fathers, Kingsley Amis and Dante” and Colm Toibin declared Gekoski to be a supreme example of a natural and gifted storyteller. Follow-up Darke Matter has been described by The Times as “even more stylish, funny and daring. To win a copy of Darke Matter, enter by 6 May.
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“There has never been a man equal to Te Rauparaha in terms of knowledge of warfare and prowess in battle, and in being so dedicated to looking after his people,” wrote TamihanaTe Rauparaha, in his account of his father’s life from the 1860s. Historian and editor Ross Calman recently took on the task of translating this rich source of Ngāti Toa history, producing A Record of the Life of the Great Te Rauparaha. In discussion with teacher and translator Hēmi Kelly, he discusses the challenges faced in interpreting the original manuscript, which was woven together from oral accounts, as well as the intriguing insights this extraordinary record provides into traditional Māori society. With musical accompaniment by Ariana Tikao.
Session delivered in te reo Māori with simultaneous translation to english.
To win a copy of Te Rauparaha, enter by 6 May.
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In 1971, only 11 women in New Zealand had taken seats as Members of Parliament, women were not entitled to matrimonial property, there was no state help for women leaving a violent partner, and no childcare available for those that worked. That year, young feminists Sue Kedgley and Ngahuia te Awekotuku led a procession, complete with coffin, into Auckland’s Albert Park to protest the lack of progress in women’s rights. Fifty years on much has been achieved but full equality remains elusive, and the movement continues to navigate its way through challenges from within and without. Kedgley and Awekotuku take the stage to mark the publication of the former’s new memoir Fifty Years A Feminist, and to reflect on the journey so far and the ways forward. Chaired by Alison Mau. To win a copy of Fifty Years a Feminist, enter by 6 May.
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WITH THANKS TO OUR MAJOR FESTIVAL PARTNERS:
 
  
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