Victoria partners with Writers and Readers Week

More Victoria staff and recent Victoria graduates than ever before will be part of Writers and Readers Week for the biennial New Zealand International Arts Festival.

As a partner of Writers and Readers Week for March 2012, Victoria University will host visiting international writers who will deliver lectures and master classes. Ten postgraduate students will be Writers and Readers Week volunteers, with responsibilities including assisting with the day-to-day running of the programme, attending sessions and working closely with the writers. Also, for the first time in New Zealand, Bill Manhire, Director of Victoria’s Institute of Modern Letters, will give a public Poetry Masterclass.

"The Festival's Writers and Readers Week has always had strong links with Victoria but next year we are taking that relationship a step further," says Anne Chamberlain, Writers and Readers Week Manager.

"It is a wonderful opportunity for students to experience engaging sessions with world-class writers."

The New Zealand International Arts Festival’s Writers and Readers Week opens on Friday 9 March with the Chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council, Tim Flannery, giving an opening address in the Wellington Town Hall. The other high-profile Town Hall Talks include an evening with Germaine Greer and a closing address by three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman.

"This is a natural collaboration for Victoria," says Professor Deborah Willis, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

"It builds on our strengths in creative writing and literary translation and enables postgraduate students to gain enormous benefit from interactions with authors of international calibre."

Writers and Readers Week takes place in Wellington from 9–14 March. The full programme will be announced on 26 January.