Auckland Writer’s Festival 2019
Anna and I attended the Auckland Writer’s Festival on Saturday and we had a great time!
We both took the train into the city -- neither of us travel there very often and so we decided to meet at Britomart Station so we could navigate the city streets together. But that didn’t exactly happen...I looked up from my seat on the train and saw her at the other end! So we chatted away the train ride and enjoyed some time together out of class. We discussed all sorts of things, but it was especially nice to talk about our manuscripts outside of the classroom. Same content, different energy.
Auckland City was vibrant and bustling with people. Thankfully the weather held out and though it was pretty chilly, we just had an overcast sky. With the help of Google Maps we made our way to Aotea Centre. The place was decked out with signage and posters and oh-so-many books. There were plenty of people milling about, and with them a friendly atmosphere. We had a bit of time to kill before the session began, so we browsed the book stalls. Though I didn’t buy anything, it was nice to see many NZ authors’ books present.
The session we were attending was ‘Fractures: Chessie Henry’, with the author discussing her award-winning memoir ‘We Can Make A Life’, about the Christchurch and Kiakoura earthquakes. Her book sounded like a heart-wrenching and important book, and hearing about her writing process was fascinating. She explained how she crowdfunded the book -- a process that is becoming frequently more common in the art world and it sounds like it may continue to grow, and even become a viable option for myself in the future -- who knows?
After the session Anna and I wandered around, not paying attention to where we were going, as we were lost in conversation going over everything Chessie Henry had talked about. Eventually we made our way to a cafe and had a tasty lunch. After that it was getting late in the afternoon so we headed back to Britomart and went our separate ways home.
It was awesome to spend time with Anna, and enjoy what the festival had to offer. I was utterly disappointed at the festival’s lack of Science-Fiction and Fantasy authors, as those are my genres of choice. There have been some great YA authors at past events, and I was disappointed at their lack as well. That’s what I am writing at the moment, and I would have loved to get some first-hand advice! I think the festival needs to incorporate more than the standard literary fiction and non-fiction. There was a gaping SFF shaped hole in the festival’s program this year, but I’m hopeful it may be filled in the future. If it is, I’ll be in the front row!
