Kia ora koutou katoa
Welcome to Dunedin – a UNESCO City of Literature and proud host of the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival 2017.
Dunedin has long been a magnificent example of a small city that lives, breathes and connects through its people, its culture and its intense love of literature. The enhanced recognition brought about by our designation as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2014 gives us tremendous opportunities for all sorts of literary initiatives, relationships and events. It also enables us to credibly engage with readers, writers, publishers and booksellers from around the world.
The Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival celebrates those connections and allows us to demonstrate all that nurtures and inspires creative minds in our city – from our world-renowned university to our stunning built and natural environments.
The organising committee have again gathered together a top-class array of international and local guests and this year’s programme promises to enhance, affirm and celebrate everything we value about our literary heritage and its future.
I welcome you to Dunedin to experience all of this for yourself. Enjoy the festival and enjoy your time in our wonderful city.
Dave Cull
Mayor of Dunedin
Dunedin has long been a magnificent example of a small city that lives, breathes and connects through its people, its culture and its intense love of literature. The enhanced recognition brought about by our designation as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2014 gives us tremendous opportunities for all sorts of literary initiatives, relationships and events. It also enables us to credibly engage with readers, writers, publishers and booksellers from around the world.
The Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival celebrates those connections and allows us to demonstrate all that nurtures and inspires creative minds in our city – from our world-renowned university to our stunning built and natural environments.
The organising committee have again gathered together a top-class array of international and local guests and this year’s programme promises to enhance, affirm and celebrate everything we value about our literary heritage and its future.
I welcome you to Dunedin to experience all of this for yourself. Enjoy the festival and enjoy your time in our wonderful city.
Dave Cull
Mayor of Dunedin
Kia ora koutou, good book- keen people of Otepoti and elsewhere. The Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival has an embarrassment of literary riches lined up for you this May. We’re gathering over 80 writers, illustrators, performers and chairfolk together for 36 events: workshops, panel sessions, poetry readings, theatrical doings, book launches, and those nutritious solo-author immersion sessions where you get to spend an hour leaning against the mind of a favourite writer.
We wooed some of our authors from afar: Ian Rankin, Stella Duffy, John Lanchester, Hannah Kent, MJ Carter and Rebecca Vaughan. They’ll join a cracking Kiwi contingent that includes many 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalists.
There’s something for every flavour of reader: a dastardly amount of crime; a flock of Flying Nuns; a tired mama on Mother’s Day telling it like it is; Polynesian existentialism; a froth of fiction; some literary metamorphosing; medicine cuddling the humanities; a monster and bee lark for the small ones; a septuagenarian birthday for a literary magazine; a trio of edgy evening sessions curated by Pirate & Queen; and poets galore (the Laureates, the politically peppy, the place-fond, a few magpies, and some rising stars).
On behalf of the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival Trust, thank you for your continued support. As New Zealand’s sole UNESCO City of Literature, we want to grow that good literary vibe. Come and help us do so this May. Your brain will love you for it.
Claire Finlayson
Programme Director
We wooed some of our authors from afar: Ian Rankin, Stella Duffy, John Lanchester, Hannah Kent, MJ Carter and Rebecca Vaughan. They’ll join a cracking Kiwi contingent that includes many 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalists.
There’s something for every flavour of reader: a dastardly amount of crime; a flock of Flying Nuns; a tired mama on Mother’s Day telling it like it is; Polynesian existentialism; a froth of fiction; some literary metamorphosing; medicine cuddling the humanities; a monster and bee lark for the small ones; a septuagenarian birthday for a literary magazine; a trio of edgy evening sessions curated by Pirate & Queen; and poets galore (the Laureates, the politically peppy, the place-fond, a few magpies, and some rising stars).
On behalf of the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival Trust, thank you for your continued support. As New Zealand’s sole UNESCO City of Literature, we want to grow that good literary vibe. Come and help us do so this May. Your brain will love you for it.
Claire Finlayson
Programme Director
