Going West Going Strong

Going West Going Strong

Waitakere City's Going West Books and Writers festival presents a varied and stimulating range of word-based events (3rd - 19th September) featuring a literary weekend, a steam train adventure, theatre, film nights, a poetry slam and a family Storyfest.

This years programme features a last minute inclusion of Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig. Also the Festival is dedicated to the late Michael King, a generous contributor to the festival each year from 1998 to 2003. As a tribute to King, Tainui Stephens revisits the landmark 70s television series, Tangata Whenua.

Image: The brilliant Michael Leunig to star in Titirangi. Read about Michael Leunig at The Age

Between the Lines (10th - 12th September) is a concentrated weekend at Titirangi Memorial Hall of readers and writers enjoying the stories and people behind the published work. The programme is dedicated to the late Michael King, a generous contributor to the festival each year from 1998 to 2003. As a tribute to King, Tainui Stephens revisits the landmark 70s television series, Tangata Whenua. Christine Cole Catley, a long-time stalwart of the New Zealand publishing industry, delivers the keynote address. Jan Kemp and CK Stead lead a session that celebrates Janet Frame's poetry with sound recordings from 1974 and 2002 of Frame reading unpublished poems. Joining them will be Frame literary executors, niece Pamela Gordon and friend Denis Harold.

The spotlight remains on poetry with the launch of the Aotearoa/New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive - a mammoth-size project that records 171 poets reading their work. The weekend also features special guest Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig, and a strong line-up of writers from around the country including: Fiona Farrell, Fiona Kidman, CK Stead, Peter Wells, Paul Thomas, Mike Johnson, Glenn Colquhoun, Harry Ricketts, Lydia Wevers. Lloyd Jones, Karyn Hay, Kelly Ana Morey, Stu Bagby, Sonya Yelich, Paula Green, William Brandt, Martin Edmond and Mary Woodward.

Further Down the Track (19th September) is the 2004 Going West steam train journey, a day-long travel adventure of the escapist, nostalgic kind. With great food and fine wine on tap, it's a chance to see a slice of the Auckland region away from its mainstreet facades and to soak up the history of heritage stops along the Western Line. Passengers are entertained by glass artist Ann Robinson, art critic Hamish Keith, writers Stephanie Johnson and Diane Brown, and Christchurch performers The Bardic Duo and singer Fiona Ferens.

The Book Market for second-hand and rare books returns to Titirangi Memorial Hall (4th September) followed in the evening by Waitakere City's inaugural Poetry Slam. Conceived in Chicago, poetry slams champion the art of competitive performance poetry in a format where poets are judged by the audience and compete for prize money. Open to all on the night, the event operates from a set of simple rules with experienced MC Michael Rudd in charge.

Going West also hosts the national touring show Meeting Karpovsky for two nights only (3rd & 4th September) at the newly refurbished Glen Eden Playhouse. This comfortable, intimate 248 seat theatre is the perfect setting to enjoy Sir Jon Trimmer and actress Helen Moulder whose combined talents have created a unique piece of theatre blending dance and drama (www.meetingkarpovsky.co.nz).

Another new addition to the festival programme is Films out West at Titirangi Memorial Hall that features Briar March's debut film Allie Eagle and Me and Shirley Horrocks 2001 documentary on Allen Curnow, Early Days Yet (11th September). The final screening, Whakaata Tawhito, is compilation presented by the New Zealand Film Archives of Maori documentary footage tracing back to the early 1900s (12th September), which includes some of the oldest surviving moving images of Maori known to exist.

The popular Storyfest, a free day for families, takes over the Kelston Community Centre (18th September) with a raft of word-based entertainment and activities. Performers include storytellers Soul Food, Bringwonder and Apirana Taylor, The Travelling Tuataras and magician Tara Okan.