The third New Zealand Young Writers Festival to be held in Dunedin - UNESCO City of Literature.

Posted: Wednesday Aug 16, 2017

Sex, dairy farming and feminism are among the unlikely bedfellows at this year’s New Zealand Young Writers Festival, fifteen free events delivering some of the country’s finest young wordsmiths to Dunedin from September 7-10.

“We’re incredibly proud of this programme. We’ve got a great mix of poets, novelists, comedians and journalists tackling some pretty big issues” said Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust Chair Aaron Hawkins, in this, the third year they’ve produced the event.

The line-up includes Lizzie Marvelly (2017 Canon Awards: Columnist of the Year; Blog Site of the Yearfor The Villainesse); Chris Tse (2016 Ockham Award Winner); New Zealand’s first Snapchat comedystar Tom Sainsbury; dairying dystopic Rhydian Thomas; and a two-day arts writing workshop withLana Lopesi and Rosabel Tan from Pantograph Punch.

“What started as an intimate gathering of like minds in 2015 grew considerably last year, and we’reexpecting this to grow as it cements its place in the literary calendar of Aotearoa New Zealand” hesaid.

Continuing a proud theme of collaboration within the event, this year featured contributions from theBlue Oyster Art Project Space and Pantograph Punch; the New Zealand Book Council; Aotearotica; andthe Dunedin High Schools’ Poetry Slam.

Across the weekend, young writers and the people who love them (their work) will have theopportunity to bond over performances, readings, panel discussions, workshops and a pub quiz.Although they are still free, space for the workshops is limited, to registration is recommended.

The project has been supported by Urban Dream Brokerage. Established by Letting Space in 2013, Urban Dream Brokerage (www.urbandreambrokerage.org.nz) with funding from Dunedin City Council, places innovative projects in vacant commercial spaces to aid urban revitalisation.

For details on how, and the complete rundown on what to expect, go to http://youngwritersfest.nz/

WHAT: New Zealand Young Writers Festival
VENUES: Four venues in the Dunedin City Centre
DATES: 7th – 10th September

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Aaron Hawkins
Chair - Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust
Mobile: +64 22 100 6634
Mail: aarongarthhawkins@gmail.com