Dame Fiona Kidman was the focus of my first session at WORD Writers and Readers Festival this morning. Her latest book All Day at the Movies follows some characters from Songs from the Violet Cafe. It’s about being a woman in New Zealand, and covers six decades. Various chronological signposts of NZ social history are referenced to show how politics and circumstances affect individual lives, and the book also explores issues around pregancny and adoption. It ends optimistically and Fiona hopes it may help readers to think about how they react to people who’ve been in difficult circumstances. Fiona spoke of how her characters have a powerful presence in her imagination, and by the time she writes about them they’ve developed their own voice. This was reinforced in a later session The Power of Poetry where she read her poem This Change in the Light.
Fiona writes in many different genres. Her preference is for short stories, but these are not always practical and writing in different genres brings more income. For instance two months of writing TV scripts can bring as much as two years of writing novels. She sees poetry as the joyful side of writing, somewhere you can express yourself spontaneously without thinking of the audience.
How are we doing, Christchurch? was a panel session with five people who’ve been involved in the earthquake recovery process. This reinforced how far we have still to go, and how little those outside Christchurch understand our experience. For me the key message was the need for locals to decide for ourselves how we’re feeling, not to be told by outsiders how “resilient” we are. There is widespread lack of trust in institutions, and creative growth is being stifled by bureaucracy, fear, and exhaustion. It seems some children are hopeful for the future, and perhaps the best way forward is to build for them.
National Poetry Day Readings at Scorpio Books featured a number of excellent local poets, many of whom had studied at Hagley Writers’ Institute..
My final session for the day was The Power of Poetry where four of the best New Zealand poets and one Australian read some very powerful poetry, which was amazing to hear. I especially enjoyed that of Selina Tusitala Marsh. You can hear her reading Unity on Radio NZ.
WORD is a great place to catch up with friends, and I met several I hadn’t seen for years. There are still two more days of WORD to go!
“We are so lucky to have WORD
and get our inspiration stirred.”
And so lucky are we who can’t go
To have you keeping us in the know
So thank you for making this so.
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Inspiring feminist today
another report on its way.
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WORD is great. I recommend volunteering for the festival. It is lots of fun, you meet interesting people and stumble upon some interesting sessions and experiences. This is my second time doing it and I love it.
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Good on you, Marion. I saw them calling for volunteers, but that was after I’d bought all my tickets..
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