Writers on Mondays 2015: questions of travel, life and love, answers from the imagination
Writers on Mondays 2015 brings together a line-up of exciting new and established talents to showcase what's happening in the world of writing.
Writers on Mondays 2015 brings together a line-up of exciting new and established talents to showcase what's happening in the world of writing.
Headlining Victoria University of Wellington's International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) 2015 season is award-winning Australian author Michelle de Kretser.
Director of the IIML Professor Damien Wilkins says the combination of new voices and established writers as part of Writers on Mondays is wonderful.
'This series is a brilliant fixture on the literary calendar.'
The Writers on Mondays programme runs from 13 July to 28 September. Sessions are from 12.15–1.15pm at Te Papa, in Te Marae, Level 4, Te Papa. The scriptwriting events will be held at Circa Theatre.
The programme kicks off in style with Poet Laureate Vincent O'Sullivan in conversation with Fergus Barrowman about O'Sullivan's recent publication Being There: Selected Poems, which spans his illustrious career and includes brand new work.
The following Monday two debut poets, Morgan Bach and John Dennison, and seasoned professional David Beach, discuss their new collections with poet Cliff Fell.
On 27 July Rachel Barrowman, in conversation with Bill Manhire, talks about one of New Zealand's best loved authors who is the subject of her new biography Maurice Gee: Life and Works.
Next, Anna Smaill—whose debut novel The Chimes has been acclaimed as a work of 'incredible imagination'—appears alongside Victoria University/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence Tim Corballis, whose hot-off-the-press book R.H.I. marks a welcome addition to the novella form.
The next week draws out visual pleasures as artist John Reynolds and designer and author Sarah Laing discuss their illustrations in two recent Te Papa Press publications.
Earthquakes and endurance are tested in Hamish Clayton's eagerly awaited The Pale North and David Coventry's first novel The Invisible Mile, in a session chaired by Harry Ricketts.
August wouldn't be the same without National Poetry Day (August 28). Writers on Mondays starts the celebrations early with the annual Best New Zealand Poems reading on 24 August. Professor Damien Wilkins will MC this lively session.
The next week welcomes another of Aotearoa's seminal writers: Witi Ihimaera, in conversation with author Tina Makereti.
And September shines with an international guest. The IIML is delighted to present Michelle de Kretser, whose recent novel Questions of Travel won the Miles Franklin Award and the Australian Prime Minister's Award for fiction. This session is chaired by Emily Perkins.
View and download the full 2015 Writers on Mondays programme from the IIML website. Admission is free and all are welcome. See the programme for details of time and venue for individual sessions.
Writers on Mondays is presented by Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and additional support from Circa Theatre. Michelle de Kretser's visit is funded by the IIML.
For more information contact Therese Lloyd on therese.lloyd@vuw.ac.nz or modernletters@vuw.ac.nz.