The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival 2009
Wednesday 13 May – Sunday 17 May
The eighth annual Auckland Writers & Readers Festival (AWRF) will be held in May 2009 and Random House New Zealand is delighted to again be taking part in this significant cultural event. AWRF is a highlight of Auckland City’s cultural calendar and brings together acclaimed writers and thousands of readers in a long weekend of innovative programming.
In addition to a huge line-up of fantastic New Zealand authors, we're proud to announce that some of our most notable international authors have been invited to appear at this year’s AWRF to discuss their latest novels. Event times and other details will follow.
Monica Ali – In the Kitchen
Monica Ali is one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists of the decade. She was Newcomer of the Year at the 2004 British Book Awards, and has been nominated for most of the major literary prizes in Britain. Her first novel, Brick Lane, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize and the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Internationally she has received similar recognition; in the United States she was shortlisted for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times ‘First Fiction’ Prize. In the Kitchen is the outstanding follow-up novel to Brick Lane, and tells the story of the misfits, psychos, exiles and culinary artists who work in London’s kitchens.
Monica Ali will be in New Zealand for AWRF and is available for interview.
Contact Sarah Thornton: saraht@randomhouse.co.nz
David Malouf – Ransom
David Malouf is the author of short story collections Dream Stuff and Every Move You Make and of acclaimed novels including The Great World (winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ and Miles Franklin Prizes) and Remembering Babylon (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award). In Ransom he retells Homer’s Iliad for our time. Lyrical, heartbreaking and full of surprises, it is a thrilling reworking of a classic tale.
David Malouf will be in New Zealand for AWRF and is available for interview.
Contact Jennifer Balle: jennifer@randomhouse.co.nz
Mohammed Hanif – A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan, in 1965. He graduated from Pakistan Air Force Academy as Pilot Officer, but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism. He has written plays for the stage and BBC radio, and his film The Long Night has been shown at film festivals around the world. He is a graduate of UEA’s creative writing programme and is currently head of the BBC’s Urdu Service. Nominated for two literary awards, A Case of Exploding Mangoes is a provocative and very funny debut that weaves a tale from one of Pakistan’s most enduring mysteries.
Mohammed Hanif will be in New Zealand for AWRF and is available for interview.
Contact Rebecca Simpson: rebecca@randomhouse.co.nz
Stefan Aust – The Baader Meinhof Complex
Stefan Aust was editor-in-chief of the political weekly Der Spiegel, Germany’s most influential magazine, for 14 years until 2008. His journalism career began in the late 1960s; he edited Konkret and St Pauli-Nachrichten, then worked on the political TV show Panorama. Aust is also a filmmaker, mainly of documentaries. His in-depth knowledge of German terrorism in the 1970s was the basis for his seminal work, The Baader Meinhof Complex. This definitive history of Germany’s Red Army Faction that reads like a thriller, and is a riveting account of the origins and outcomes of terrorism.
Stefan Aust will be in New Zealand for AWRF and is available for interview.
Louise Vallant: louise@randomhouse.co.nz