Going West

The Going West Books & Writers Festival is a New Zealand literary festival which began in 1996 in West Auckland. It was Auckland's first literary festival, and is one of the longest-running literary festivals in New Zealand. Going West predominantly features New Zealand writers, poets, and orators, often with a West Auckland connection.

This article is about the New Zealand literary festival. For the 1983 album by The Members, see Uprhythm, Downbeat.
Going West at the Glen Eden Playhouse Theatre, 14 Aug 2021

Origin

Going West was founded by Naomi McCleary, arts manager for Waitākere City, and Murray Gray, owner of Parnell bookshop Under Silkwood, with the assistance of Bob Harvey, Mayor of Waitakere.[1][2][3] Gray stepped down as programme director in 2015 after 20 years and was succeeded by Robyn Mason, now the archivist and curator; as of 2021 the director is James Littlewood.[4][5]

The festival's name was inspired by a passage in Maurice Gee's 1992 novel Going West which describes a train journey from the western suburb of Henderson to central Auckland. In 1996 the organisers assembled friends to reenact the trip with a hired steam train, running poetry readings and events at train stations along the way. There were even readings on the train itself.[6] The programme was put together by Murray Gray and Peter Simpson, and Gil Hanly and Marti Friedlander acted as photographers.[1]

The inaugural Going West festival was held in a "freezing Corban Estate concrete warehouse" on 13–14 July 1996.[7] The first words spoken were in Māori, by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku as part of the session "Breathing Words" with Robert Sullivan and Bernard Makoare, a recitation of Māori oral and written literature.[1] It followed a performance on traditional Māori instruments (taonga pūoro) by Makoare.[8] One panel featured Maurice Shadbolt, Dick Scott and Kevin Ireland; another comprised Debra Daley, Emily Perkins, and Stephanie Johnson. In 1997 Maurice Gee attended, and read from his book Going West at the Henderson Railway Station.[7]

By its tenth year, the festival consisted of a three-day literary weekend at a single venue, Titirangi Memorial Hall, followed by an all-day trip on a steam train, hired for $15,500, to Helensville and back, stopping at five stations. The cost of the train was offset by sponsorship.[3]

Eventually the Sunday train schedule changed and it became too difficult to book a private train.[6] The festival is now held annually in a variety of Waitakere locations, including West Auckland's Civic Building, Lopdell House, Glen Eden Playhouse and Te Uru. Going West 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19 and took place as a series of podcasts, but returned in 2021 in a new format with multimedia events and monthly live performances.[1][9][5] Poets and filmmakers collaborated to make short films as part of a series called Different Out Loud.[10]

Going West is one of the longest-running literary festivals in New Zealand.[5] From the inaugural 1996 festival every session was recorded onto broadcast-quality tape by sound technician Dave Hodge, who worked with the festival for 24 years.[1][7] In 2003 Auckland Libraries partnered with the Going West Festival Trust to support Dave Hodge in recording every session and preserve the Going West audio archive.[7]

Notable participants

Further reading
  • Going West Trust (16 September 2021). Voices of Aotearoa: 25 years of Going West oratory. Auckland: Oratia Books. ISBN 978-0-947506-97-1. OCLC 1246623097. A collection of keynotes speeches from the Going West audio archive.

References
  1. Black, Eleanor (11 July 2020). "Gee whiz: Going West celebrates 25 years". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  2. "Twelve Questions: Murray Gray". New Zealand Herald. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  3. Larsen, David (4 September 2005). "Full steam ahead for Going West festival". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  4. Rees-Owen, Rose (15 July 2015). "Going West Books and Writers Festival founder steps down". Stuff. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  5. NZ Booklovers (1 August 2021). "Interview with Going West Festival Director James Littlewood". NZ Booklovers. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  6. "Going West Books and Writers Festival founder steps down". Stuff. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  7. McCleary, Naomi; Berman, Sue (4 September 2017). "The Going West archive - Out of the box". Heritage et AL. Auckland Libraries. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  8. "Prestigious West Auckland literary festival celebrates 25 years". Te Ao – Māori News. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  9. Going West Festival (1 July 2021). "Fresh New Format Marks Going West Festival's 2021 Live Season". Scoop News. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  10. OurAuckland (15 April 2021). "Going West Festival launches 'Different Out Loud' season". OurAuckland. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  11. Ell, Sarah (2 September 2017). "Into the deep caves". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  12. Selina Tusitala Marsh - Poet Laureate, retrieved 25 August 2021
  13. Braunias, Steve (13 April 2021). "Knowing Charlotte as I do". Newsroom. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  14. Metro (3 September 2019). "Star literary line-up at the 24th Going West Festival". Metro. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  15. Books, The Spinoff Review of (26 July 2021). "Goddesses respond to Karlo Mila's book of poems, Goddess Muscle". The Spinoff. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  16. "Going West Writers Festival - Gala Night". KickArts. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
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