Winter Writers

By Renee Liang

As the winter weather rolls in early the thought of cosying up with a book and a mug of hot tea starts to look very inviting.  But then again the idea of cosying up with some writers or artists (metaphorically) is equally nice. 

I’ve been involved with The Auckland Writer’s and Reader’s festival for the last three years now, as a volunteer, and lately, also as an MC for the Poetry evening.  It’s a great way to get under the skin of a big literary festival.  Volunteering, I’ve found, is a good excuse to follow around writers I’ve long admired.  And most of those writers are quite happy to talk to wide-eyed baby writers while waiting backstage. 

The line-up at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival this year is diverse and eclectic.  There are a few glamour events - the awards ceremony of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize is a huge coup, as is the snaffling of four writers from the New Yorker magazine.  No surprise that this event has already sold out.  More interestingly, sessions with science writers have proved very popular, with over twenty questions being sent in for Richard Dawkins who will link in by video (he’s not expected to answer them all) and cosmologist Marcus Chown’s session also selling out. 

Speaking of cosy, the Metonymy exhibition opening (a fringe event of the Auckland Writers and Readers festival, on level 4 of the Aotea Centre) was a very warm event.  We’d spent the weekend hammering, blowing (balloons), stuffing (poetry)and otherwise installing, and come Monday night we shared the space with an enthusiastic crowd of 200 or so (swelled a little by confused people trying to find the citizenship ceremony downstairs).  Metonymy involves writers and artists being paired in a ‘blind date’:

“Metonymy takes the idea of collaboration and runs with it.  It puts people from different parts of the art spectrum together and lets the creative sparks fly.  Writers, artists and designers don’t give away their strengths in the process of collaboration.  Instead the process at its best takes them all into areas that they would not inhabit on their own.” 

This comment, by Peter Gilderdale of AUT University (one of the panel who selected work for the exhibition), moves us into an interesting conversation about the nature of collaboration.  It seems to me that the best collaborations involve people stepping – or allowing themselves to be pushed – outside of their comfort zone.  If both partners in a collaboration stand on shaky ground, then the work has a rawness and immediacy – there’s a risk it won’t come together, of course, but it also gives work that all-important tension. 

But as my bed is calling, I’ll defer further musings until the morrow.  It should be a great weekend at the Auckland Writer’s and Reader’s festival!