Quick questions

Quick Questions with Laurie Winkless – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Laurie Winkless is a physicist-turned-science-writer. After a research career in materials science at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, her first book, Science and the City, was published worldwide by Bloomsbury. Laurie’s second book, Sticky, is in the works.

Laurie Winkless. Photo credit: Tim Goffe
Laurie Winkless. Photo credit: Tim Goffe

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

I’m looking forward to exploring Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens, and finding some of the famous street art dotted around the city

What do you think about libraries?

My local library changed my life! As soon as I started to show an interest in books – before I could read – my parents brought me to the library. There, I found my happy place. Without that access, I doubt I’d have written my own book. Even today, I’m at my most comfortable when surrounded by books. Libraries have just as important today as they always have been. As our cities grow, and populations spread, libraries act as the heart of the community, opening the world to readers, young and old. Librarians, too, offer an incredible, vital service

What would be your desert island book?

I can’t possibly pick just one!

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

Here are a few:

  • I come from a stage-school family, so I can sing and dance
  • I used to collect stamps
  • I’ve done a parachute jump
  • I am obsessed with trains

Laurie’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Inspiring writers secondary schools day Thursday 30 August

Laurie Winkless: Science and the city Saturday 1 September

Quick Questions with Michèle A’Court – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Winner of Female Comedian of the Decade in 2010, Michèle A’Court is a stand-up comedian, writer and social commentator. She has written two books: Stuff I Forgot To Tell My Daughter (2015) and How We Met (2018).

Michèle A’Court. Image supplied.
Michèle A’Court. Image supplied.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

Hanging out with writers and the people who read their books. Writers are delightful people – they love words and they love wine, which are two of my Top Five Favourite Things. And people who read have curious minds and excellent manners. Also hoping for clear skies and crisp days.

What do you think about libraries?

Every time I walk into a library, I feel like I’m rich. You can have anything you want without having to worry about how much it costs.

CoverWhat would be your desert island book?

Everything ever written by Joan Didion – essays, memoir, fiction. I love the way she uses words, the way she sees the world, and captures particular moments in modern history.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I own a selection of Minnie Mouse ears – daywear, formal, Christmas and other special occasions. I fully accept that not everyone will find this fact surprising.

Michèle A’Court’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Tom Scott: Drawn out Saturday 1 September 11.30am

Let love in Saturday 1 September 2.30pm

The Great WORD Debate Saturday 1 September 8pm SOLD OUT

Quick Questions with Brannavan Gnanalingam – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Brannavan Gnanalingam is a Wellington writer who has published five novels through Lawrence & Gibson. His latest, Sodden Downstream (2017), was shortlisted for the Acorn Foundation Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Brannavan Gnanalingam. Photo credit: Lucy Li
Brannavan Gnanalingam. Photo credit: Lucy Li

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

Catching up with Christchurch friends, seeing some amazing writers, and hopefully spinning some yarns

What do you think about libraries?

Libraries are the reason why I’m a writer. My Mum would take me to the various Hutt Libraries when I was a child and sit there and wait while I read books (I hadn’t fully appreciated I could take books home). They are so so crucial. They’re also a great way for people to read my books, hint hint.

What would be your desert island book?

Can I cheat and say Balzac’s La Comédie Humaine. They’re mostly all interrelated so I feel like it’s an ok bending of the rules. I’m halfway there and I love them but I’d love to have the time to read the remaining 50 books.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I was once robbed by a gang of old ladies in Kazakhstan. They also robbed my friend Gareth, but he was trying to hold onto his money, which he did… until one bit him and drew blood so he let go. We lost about $20 all up.

Brannavan Gnanalingam’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Motherhood Saturday 1 September 11.30am SOLD OUT

The politics of fiction Saturday 1 September 4pm

Explosive Archaeology Sunday 2 September 10am

Quick Questions with Catherine Robertson – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Catherine Robertson’s five novels have all been No. 1 New Zealand best-sellers. She reviews fiction for the New Zealand Listener and is a regular guest on RNZ. She has appeared at and chaired sessions for several writers festivals.

Catherine Robertson. Photo credit: Russell Kleyn

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

Visiting the art gallery again. My art collection started with postcards from the gift shop.

What do you think about libraries?

Libraries are a bastion against ignorance and a gateway to learning, inspiration and joy. They’re the most powerful places on earth.

What would be your desert island book?

Roget’s Thesaurus, because I can create infinite stories from its contents.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I can recite several AA Milne poems, including The Knight Whose Armour Didn’t Squeak.

Catherine Robertson’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

High tea and tales with Nicky Pellegrino Thursday 30 August 2pm

Motherhood Saturday 1 September 11.30am

Let Love in Saturday 1 September 2.30pm

Quick Questions with Kate De Goldi – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Kate De Goldi writes fiction for all ages and reviews books for print and broadcast media. Her most recent novel is From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle. She is co-editor, with Susan Price, of the children’s anthology Annual 2.

Kate De Goldi. Image supplied.
Kate De Goldi. Image supplied.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

I’m looking forward to seeing Christchurch in the spring – particularly the cherry blossoms on Harper Ave – and to having a run or two up the back roads of Tai Tapu.

What do you think about libraries?

I think libraries (and their librarians) are the beating hearts of our communities – essential, enabling hives of connectivity and possibility. I was formed and nurtured by the Christchurch library system and feel great love and gratitude for it.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I am a devastating chess player. Kidding.

Kate De Goldi’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Charlotte Grimshaw: I and I and I – in conversation with Kate De Goldi Friday 31 August 4pm

2018 Margaret Mahy Lecture with Barbara Else, introduced by Kate De Goldi Saturday 1 September 10am

Quick Questions with Kirsten McDougall – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Kirsten McDougall has written a book of interconnected short stories, The Invisible Rider, and a novel Tess. She has published stories and non-fiction in Landfall, Sport, Turbine and Tell You What: Great New Zealand Non-fiction 2016.

Kirsten McDougall. Photo credit: Grant Maiden Photography.
Kirsten McDougall. Photo credit: Grant Maiden Photography.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

The literary whisky tasting at WORD Christchurch Festival and seeing what new street art has popped up since I was last there.

What do you think about libraries?

They’re one of the world’s great inventions. They’re a socialist idea that delivers and they create a scene without an economic imperative. In that sense – you might call libraries a kind of art form.

What would be your desert island book?

Treasure Island.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I have really good timing for someone who isn’t a musician. I can pick up rhythms really easily and tap them out on my knees no problem. I wish this was a more recognised party trick than it is.

Kirsten McDougall’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

The Body Issue Saturday 1 September 5.30pm

Quick Questions with Vanda Symon – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Vanda Symon is the author of the Detective Sam Shephard series, and the standalone thriller, The Faceless. She is a three-time Ngaio Marsh Award finalist, and is a judge of the Ngaio Marsh Award for best first crime novel.

Vanda Symon, Image supplied.
Vanda Symon, Image supplied.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

Catching up with my writer cronies.

What do you think about libraries?

They are my happy place.

CoverWhat would be your desert island book?

Diana Gabaldon’s Cross Stitch.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I attack people with swords for relaxation.

Vanda Symon’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Paul Cleave: Crimechurch Friday 31 August 11.30am

Murder in the Chamber: Ngaio Marsh finalists Saturday 1 September 5.30pm

The 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards Saturday 1 September 7pm

Quick Questions with Lloyd Jones – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Lloyd Jones is one of New Zealand’s most internationally successful contemporary writers. He has published essays and children’s books as well as adult fiction but his best-known work is the phenomenally successful novel, Mister Pip. The Cage is his most recent novel.

Lloyd Jones. Image supplied.
Lloyd Jones. Image supplied.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

I’ll be at the writers festival, but if I have a chance I will go for a wander in lovely Hagley Park.

What do you think about libraries?

The question betrays a concern about the place of libraries – and books – and their decline in our community.  Less than a decade ago, few would have questioned the place of libraries. The sad and unavoidable fact is book-reading has lost its centrality to our culture. In NZ, few people read. Literature is marginalised in the school curriculum. Few teachers read. Fewer still are able to argue for the place of literature in the lives of anyone let alone young people. But to answer the question, I love libraries – at least those ones still with books on their shelves.  I’ve always thought that, collectively, all the libraries in the world offer a repository for Human kind’s thinking aloud.

What would be your desert island book?

One with blank pages or the collected works of Shakespeare.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I used to have hair.

Lloyd Jones’ sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Lloyd Jones in conversation with John Campbell Friday 31 August 1pm

The Freedom Papers Sunday 2 September 1pm

Quick Questions with Rajorshi Chakraborti – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 is an Indian-born novelist, essayist and short story writer. He has lived in India, Canada, England and Scotland, where he lectured in English literature and creative writing at the University of Edinburgh. He now lives in Wellington.

Rajorshi Chakraborti. Image supplied.
Rajorshi Chakraborti. Image supplied.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

Meeting visitors to the festival and exploring as much of the city centre on foot as I can in between the fantastic line-up of events at WORD. Oh, and also visiting Christchurch Art Gallery.

What do you think about libraries?

My gratitude for them is boundless. Life would truly be unimaginable without libraries for our family. But also increasingly, I value so much the wider ethos of a society that maintains public libraries as well-funded, free-to-use, open, welcoming spaces.

What would be your desert island book?

An unabridged edition of the Indian epic, The Mahabharata, simply because it is an ocean of stories, containing within it endless human, and divine (!), complexity and variability. It is said of the Mahabharata “What is here is elsewhere. What is not here is nowhere else.”

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

That the house we live in in Wellington is the roof under which I have spent the longest time of any in my life. I have lived in this house, and indeed in NZ, for 8 years now. The previous record was 5 years and 4 months, held by my first childhood home in Calcutta, India. In between, I kept on moving.

Rajorshi Chakraborti‘s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Starry, starry night Friday 31 August 8pm

The Politics of Fiction Saturday 1 September 4pm

Quick Questions with Diana Wichtel – WORD Christchurch

DonnaLeave a comment

CoverWe are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Diana Wichtel is a multi-award-winning journalist and a feature writer and television critic at the New Zealand Listener. She has been a New Zealand Herald columnist, a television reviewer for Radio Live and a writer of dialogue for television.

Diana Wichtel. Image supplied.
Diana Wichtel. Image supplied.

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

Taking in again the indomitable spirit of the place and, as it happens, taking a look at the soon to be opened new library.

What do you think about libraries?

They should be the heart of a community. Seeing all the kids lounging about reading at our new library in Devonport gives me hope.

CoverWhat would be your desert island book?

Maus by Art Spiegelman, a two volume account in comic form of the Spiegelman family’s Holocaust history and its legacy. Devastating, quite often funny, audacious, inexhaustible.

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

I’ve been in the same relationship for 37 years, lived in the same house for 36 years, worked at the NZ Listener for 34 years. Surprisingly resistant to change.

Diana Wichtel’s session at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Diana Wichtel: Driving to Treblinka Sunday 2 September 11.30am