WORD Christchurch

WORD Christchurch is an organisation based in Christchurch, New Zealand which presents a variety of events around books, stories and ideas, most notably the annual WORD Christchurch Festival, also known as WORD Festival, established in 1997, then known as Books and Beyond. Until 2014, the festival was run as the Press Christchurch Writers Festival.

About the festival

The WORD Christchurch festival is the largest event for books, stories and ideas in the South Island of New Zealand. As of 2023 its director is Steph Walker (Executive Director) with Kiran Dass as Programme Lead.[1][2] Rachael King was the literary director between 2013 and 2021.[3][4] Nic Low was Programme Director in 2021 and 2022.

The Ngaio Marsh Awards are presented at the festival.[5]

Until 2021, the festival was biennial.[6] In the Festival off-year, WORD Christchurch partnered with the Christchurch Arts Festival for a series of ideas-based events, and also presented events at KidsFest in those years. It also ran an annual schools programme showcasing the New Zealand Children's Book Award finalists.

History

The Festival has run under the WORD umbrella since 2014 but was established in 1997 by Morrin Rout and Ruth Todd;[7][1] its predecessor was the Press Christchurch Writers Festival.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10][11]

In September 2020, the festival was local and focussed on New Zealand writing, as the COVID-19 travel bans in New Zealand made it difficult for international authors to attend.[12] In 2021, the festival was postponed from September to November and its programme had to be downsized, with many events being run as virtual or live-streamed, due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic.[4][13]

The 2023 WORD Christchurch Festival is scheduled to take place from 23 to 27 August. The programme includes authors from New Zealand and overseas.[14]

References
  1. "About WORD". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  2. "NZ Literary Festivals". NZ Poetry Shelf. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  3. "Rachael King". Read NZ. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  4. Gates, Charlie (4 November 2021). "Word festival co-director Rachael King resigns to spend more time writing". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  5. "Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  6. "WORD Christchurch Festival Celebrates Books, Storytelling and Ideas this August". The New Zealand Society of Authors. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  7. "Archive". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  8. R., Donna (12 September 2012). "The Press Christchurch Writers Festival 2012". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  9. "WORD Christchurch Festival 2018: 29 August–2 September" (PDF). Allen & Unwin and others. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  10. "Behrouz Boochani: Writing from Manus Prison". WORD Christchurch. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  11. 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.
  12. Matthews, Philip (9 September 2020). "Virus expert Siouxsie Wiles to debate 'the end of the world' at Christchurch book festival". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  13. Matthews, Philip (6 July 2021). "Words and music in a time of Covid". The Press. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  14. Broatch, Mark (19 July 2023). "What to look forward to at Christchurch's Word Festival 2023". The Listener. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
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