The 2023 Auckland Writers Festival programme is live! Catch these sessions featuring BWB authors.
Thursday 18 May, 5.30–6.30pm, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre
Veteran journalist Simon Wilson will discuss new ways of approaching climate risk and future sustainability with Jade Kake (Ngāti Hau me Te Parawhau/ Ngapuhi, Te Arawa, Te Whakatōhea), Papakāinga architect in Northland and author of Rebuilding the Kāinga; researcher Max Harris, author of The New Zealand Project which aimed to provide a vision for confronting the challenges ahead; Shaun Hendy, Chief Scientist at Toha NZ and author of #NoFly; and Dr Carisa Showden, University of Auckland’s sociology department and one of the authors on a new book on youth activism, Fierce Hope.
Te Motunui Epa: Dr Rachel Buchanan
Saturday 20 May, 1.00–2.00pm, Hunua Room, Aotea Centre
In the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlisted Te Motunui Epa, Dr Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa) recounts the fascinating odyssey of five interconnected carvings. ‘Utu is about relationships,’ Dr Buchanan says, ‘a return or payback, reciprocity, a satisfaction, a ransom, a reward, a price, a reply, evening things up.’ She will discuss how when taonga have been taken from a community, only return can achieve utu and restore balance.
Sunday 21 May, 11.30am–12.30pm, Waitākere Room, Aotea Centre
Asian in Aotearoa’s Jenna Wee will be in conversation with New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon, journalist Louisa Lim, essayist Rose Lu and sociopolitical commentator Tze Ming Mok, contributor to Towards a Grammar of Race. Together they explore why the yellow peril narrative is even more forceful and dangerous in 2023.
For tickets, more information and the full programme of events see here.