The Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts returns to Wellington 23 February–17 March. The festival is a celebration of creativity and talent in all forms spanning music, theatre, dance, visual arts, and more.
Below is a selection of the University community that are involved in the Festival. Find the full programme here and explore the extraordinary talent on show.
The Savage Coloniser Show, Tusiata Avia
New Zealand-Samoan poet, performer, playwright, author, and 2023 Distinguished Alumni award winner Tusiata Avia brings her acclaimed poetry to life in this fierce and compelling stage show. Like all of Tusiata’s work, The Savage Coloniser Show it is unrelenting, brutally honest, holds big ideas, and challenges the status quo.
Book launch—The Grimmelings, Rachael King
International Institute of Modern Letters alumna Rachael King is launching her new book for young readers, The Grimmelings, with the help of fellow alumna and honorary Doctor of Literature Elizabeth Knox. Described as a “compelling and lovingly crafted novel”, The Grimmelings is an example of Rachael King's immersive and vibrant writing, and one not to be missed.
Te Tiriti Trauma but make it sci-fi, Tīhema Baker
In this talk, Tīhema Baker (Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira) dives deep into the the possibilities of satire and sci-fi, in parallel with his career as a writer and a Te Tiriti-based policy advisor. Tīhema returned to the University in 2020 to complete a Master of Arts at the International Institute of Modern Letters, noting it as one of the best things he’s done personally and as a writer.
Rebecca Priestley: End Times?
In conversation with Kim Hill, Rebecca Priestly, alumna and Professor of Science in Society at the University, will delve into her latest book End Times, reflecting on two periods of her life: the first, punctuated by 1980s punk and protest before an evangelical Christian phase; the second, a West Coast road trip in 2021 amid the tangles of Covid conspiracies and the yawning threats of climate change and an alpine fault rupture. The book explores friendship, honest conversation, and how we come to land on some beliefs and reject others.
House on Fire: panel
Alumni Tayi Tibble, Emma Hislop, and Lynn Davidson join forces on this writing panel to explore the concept of home, and what that means to each of them and their art. Along with fellow writers Samuel Te Kani and Jane Smiley they will share new pieces of writing on the topic of home, woven together with music and imagery to create an immersive experience.