WORD Christchurch

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WORD Christchurch is an organisation which presents a variety of literary events, most notably the biennial WORD Christchurch Festival, also known as WORD Festival. The Festival is the largest literary event in the South Island of New Zealand, and partners with the Auckland Writers Festival on North Island each year for an autumn season in May.[1]

In the Festival off-year, WORD Christchurch partners with the for a series of ideas-based events, and also presents events at KidsFest in those years. It also runs an annual schools programme showcasing the New Zealand Children's Book Award finalists.[1] Current directors are Marianne Hargreaves, Executive Director, Rachael King and Nic Low, Programme Directors.[2][3] King started in 2013.[4]

The Ngaio Marsh Awards are presented at the WORD Christchurch Festival.[5]

History[]

The Festival has run under the WORD umbrella since 2014 but was established in 1997;[6][2] its predecessor was the Press Christchurch Writers Festival.[7]

The 2018 event featured Australian writer and adventurer Robyn Davidson, former Islamist radical turned anti-extremist Ed Husain, Australian author, poet and hip-hop artist Omar Musa, British author Juno Dawson, New Zealand politician Margaret Austin, author and illustrator Gavin Bishop and many others.[8]

On 29 November 2019 a special event was held featuring Behrouz Boochani, the award-winning Iranian-Kurdish writer and film-maker who wrote about and filmed his experiences in the Australian offshore detention camp, the Manus Island detention centre, where he was held for six years.[9][10]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "About". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b "About WORD". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  3. ^ "NZ Literary Festivals". NZ Poetry Shelf. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Rachael King". Read NZ. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  5. ^ "Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  6. ^ "Archive". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  7. ^ R., Donna (12 September 2012). "The Press Christchurch Writers Festival 2012". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  8. ^ "WORD Christchurch Festival 2018: 29 August–2 September" (PDF). Allen & Unwin and others. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Behrouz Boochani: Writing from Manus Prison". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  10. ^ Doherty, Ben (16 November 2019). "Behrouz Boochani, brutalised but not beaten by Manus, says simply: 'I did my best'". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
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