Talent for Auckland Writers And Readers Festival

2012 AUCKLAND WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL

09 - 13 MAY | AOTEA CENTRE, THE EDGE | WWW.WRITERSFESTIVAL.CO.NZ ! TOP INTERNATIONAL TALENT

PRESS RELEASE: 15 DECEMBER 2012

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

International Talent for Auckland Writers And Readers Festival 2012

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival is delighted to announce that former spy chief Dame Stella Rimington (UK), Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle (Ireland) and beloved Young Adult writer Emily Rodda (Australia) will attend the May 2012 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Dame Stella Rimington DCB, who will headline the Festival’s highly popular Soul Bar Lunch event alongside main programme appearances, is the British author of a number of gripping ‘insider’ spy novels, most recently RipTide (2011). She is also well-known as the first female and the first publicised Director General of MI5, a position she held from 1992 to 1996.

Irish novelist and Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, whose 1987 novel The Commitments was made into the hit movie of the same name, is also a dramatist and screenwriter. He has a long list of popular writing credits and, in 2011, published the short story collection Bull Fighting, alongside his novel for younger readers, A Greyhound of a Girl.

Among Emily Rodda’s many books for children, her Deltora Quest and Rowan of Rin series books are loved and devoured by YA readers. She comes to the Festival in May with the support of the Australia Council, following the publication of The Golden Door, the first novel in a new trilogy. Rodda, who also writes crime under her real name Jennifer Rowe, will be appearing in both the schools’ programme on 9-10 May and the main programme. “It’s such a pleasure to reveal this taster of the rich line-up planned for May 2012,” says Artistic Director Anne O’Brien.

“Dame Stella Rimington, Roddy Doyle and Emily Rodda will all bring fine craft, great minds and broad experiences to Auckland, not to mention providing the perfect Christmas reads, setting the tone for what will undeniably be another outstanding Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.”

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival is New Zealand’s largest literary and ideas festival. In 2012 AWRF will run Wednesday 9 May to Sunday 13 May and will present another exciting list of international and New Zealand writers in more than 70 events, guaranteed to excite and stimulate hungry minds. The schools programme will be available in February 2012 with the full programme announced in the second!half of March 2012 and tickets on sale from that time at www.buytickets.co.nz.!

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival Charitable Trust warmly thanks:

Gold Sponsors: Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development Ltd, New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Listener,
University of Auckland Bronze Sponsors: Allpress Espresso, Cable Bay Vineyards, Delmaine Fine Foods, McGovernOnline Publisher Sponsors: Allen & Unwin, Hachette New Zealand, HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Ltd, Penguin Books New Zealand, Random House New Zealand Schools Programme Sponsors: South Pacific Pictures,Warehouse Stationery Foundations, Trusts and Grantmakers: APRA/AMCOS, ASB Community Trust, Asia: NewZealand Foundation, Australia Council for the Arts, Creative New Zealand, Lion Foundation, Sir John Logan CampbellResiduary Estate, SkyCity Auckland Community Trust Strategic Partners: ALT, The Edge, The Langham AucklandSupporters and Suppliers: Nielsen Bookdata, Qantas.

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