Well, what a start! Famous names, famous faces; authors and playwrights, poets and journalists; Auckland’s literati out in force … and us!
We finished rather late, but by the time you read this will still be feeling slightly buzzy with energy, as this truly was a great night out. In a slightly different format from recent years, 2011′s opening night featured the story-telling genius of eight world-class talents. Miriama Kamo introduced the line-up and told a story of her own, before Karen Healey took to the stage, followed in turn by Victor Rodger, Fatima Bhutto, Rives, Fiona Farrell, James Fergusson, A A Gill and Meg Rosoff.
Instead of reading from their most recent work, each speaker was asked to share a true personal story inspired by the alphabet. Stories ranged from the sublime to the gloriously ridiculous, from the deeply moving to the slightly dodgy, all told in the best storytelling manner. Chatting with Bookman Beattie afterwards, we all agreed that we could have stayed twice as long.
There’s not room enough to share every story from every speaker, but for those of you who would like to get a wee taste of some of the tales, and hear what we’ve got planned for Friday, please check out the report from Bronwyn, Catherine and myself [13 min, 13Mb .mp3]:
- View photos from the festival on the library flickr
- Read more posts from the festival
- Visit the official website
13 May 2011 at 9:49 am
What a great kick off.
Would have loved to see Mr AA Gill walking round the stage and asking about the Phoenicians. Like Bronwyn, I am a total Gill-more Gal.
13 May 2011 at 10:17 am
He was quite impressive – even feigning a phone call from his wife while on stage – had the audience in stitches.
13 May 2011 at 11:51 am
The idea of telling a true story inspired by the alphabet – sounds like there were some very interesting tales shared. Can only imagine that Fiona Farrell’s Q story would have been powerful to hear. And the reality that the punchline for Q stories at the beginning of the story.
A story-telling club, what an awesome idea. Would love to know who the debut author that Meg Rosoff managed to get an agent for, as I would be keen to read it when it finally gets published.
Can’t wait to hear more about Friday’s big day!
13 May 2011 at 1:08 pm
The debut author is Ray Hewitt. He blogs at http://bloodinthesand.blogspot.com/
13 May 2011 at 1:18 pm
Awesome. Thank you – off to read his blog now.
13 May 2011 at 12:01 pm
An entertainly and very slick presentation by all three of you! Looking forward to hearing more, especially how I can find my keys….
1 August 2011 at 11:07 am
[...] start with the New Zealand Listener Gala Night which featured eight guests telling true stories – all based on a single letter of the [...]