The Devonport Arts Festival is back!

The Devonport Arts Festival is back!

Celebrate the revival of the popular Devonport Arts Festival in the coming week, with a host of events. Full details are available on the festival web site:
http://www.devonportartsfestival.co.nz/wp/

The Michael King Writers’ Centre is involved in several of the events and you are warmly invited to come along with your friends and family.

Festival Opening – The Depot, 28 Clarence Street
Saturday November 17, 4 pm

Two Poets Laureate will take part in the official opening. Former Poet Laureate, Devonport resident Michele Leggott and current Poet Laureate Ian Wedde will join Auckland Mayor Len Brown at the opening event, followed by the opening of The Depot’s festival exhibitions. Ian was The University of Auckland resident at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in 2009 when he completed his latest novel The Catastrophe (published 2011) and worked on his series of poems The Lifeguard, to be published next year. Free.

Open afternoon at Michael King Writers’ Centre
Sunday November 18, 2 pm to 4 pm

The Devonport Friends of the Michael King Writers’ Centre will host an open afternoon at the historic Signalman’s House on Takarunga Mt Victoria, as part of the Devonport Arts Festival. Come in for a cuppa, enjoy the views and look around the collection of literary memorabilia. Free.
Wind and Weather at The Depot, 28 Clarence Street
Wednesday November 21, 5.30 pm for 6 pm

Be a part of the creative process. Michele Leggott has written a sequence of poems about the slightly mysterious death of her great-grandfather in Devonport in 1891. Although he was from Taranaki, her Edward Evans died in unexplained circumstances in Devonport at the age of 40, leaving seven children, and her great-grandmother undertook a journey by sea to take his body back home. Wind and Weather will be read in three voices, with Michele, Frances Edmond and Cathy Gunn. The poems are a work in progress and Michele is keen to hear from local historians who might be able to contribute their knowledge. Free.

Author to Author: Eleanor Catton and Emily Perkins, Devonport Library
Thursday November 22, 7.30 for 8 pm

Eavesdrop on a conversation between Eleanor Catton and Emily Perkins as they discuss their new works and the highs and lows of the writer’s craft. These two superb story-tellers have achieved acclaim both in New Zealand and internationally. Eleanor is the current writer in residence at the Michael King Centre and Emily is about to leave Auckland to take up a new position at the International Institute of Modern Letters in Wellington. Both recently attended the Frankfurt Book Fair. This is a Devonport Library Associates event.

Playing Miss Havisham at St Augustine’s Church Hall, 95 Calliope Rd
Sunday November 25, 4 pm

Playing Miss Havisham is an intimate comedy with music, song and an array of endearing characters, co-written and performed by renowned actress Helen Moulder. Currently on tour in honour of Charles Dickens' 200th birthday, it features piano music recorded by Richard Mapp. Complete with wedding dress and cobwebs, it tells the story of Claudia who takes on the role of Claudia in a film version of Great Expectations. As she prepares for the role, Claudia finds her own life takes on the twists and turns of a Dickens novel.

Tickets: $30
Bookings: Michael King Writers’ Centre, ph 09 445 8451
or email assistant@writerscentre.org.nz

Signalman’s House, Mount Victoria, Devonport, Auckland 0624, New Zealand
Postal address: PO Box 32 629, Devonport, Auckland 0744. Phone/fax: 09 445 8451
Email: administrator@writerscentre.org.nz
Web: www.writerscentre.org.nz

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