AFTER DARK (2022)

AFTER DARK (2022)

Author: Auckland Writers Festival April 5, 2023 Duration: 1:01:50
In night, suspense, lawlessness, hazard, sensuousness and awe are evoked simply by stepping outside,” says Annette Lees, author of 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards longlisted After Dark – in which she walks readers into the nights of Aotearoa, in the company of bats, owls, moths and seabirds, on a fascinating exploration of stories beyond the dusk. Spend a magical lights-dimmed hour with Lees, storyteller Rewi Spraggon and taonga pūoro player Riki Bennett, as they lead you on an evocative journey from Hine-nui-te-pō to the dawn chorus via readings, music and a nature soundscape.

The Auckland Writers Festival podcast is a direct line to the stages and conversations of one of the Southern Hemisphere's most vibrant literary events. This audio archive captures the live, unscripted energy of festival sessions, bringing the voices of the world's most compelling authors, thinkers, and poets directly to you. Each episode is a deep dive into the ideas shaping our world, from intimate interviews on the craft of writing to expansive panel discussions on history, politics, science, and culture. You'll hear novelists dissect their characters, historians trace forgotten narratives, and poets articulate the ineffable, all within the unique atmosphere of a live audience. This isn't a produced studio show; it's the sound of intellectual discovery and passionate debate happening in real time. The collection serves as a lasting resource, preserving the festival's dynamic spirit long after the final applause. For anyone who believes in the power of stories to challenge and connect us, this podcast offers a front-row seat to a celebration of words and the people who wield them with extraordinary skill. Tune in to be reminded of why literature matters.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Auckland Writers Festival
Podcast Episodes
THE SHAPE WE'RE IN: STEPHANIE JOHNSON (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:03
THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND FREE LECTURE Twenty-two years ago the Auckland Writers Festival burst into literary life, propelled by the ambitious advocacy of writers Stephanie Johnson and the late Peter Wells who wanted to…
THE 33: ANNE KENNEDY & SARAH WATKINS (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:37
A heartfelt artistic collaboration, The 33, brings together award-winning poet Anne Kennedy and leading New Zealand pianist and Juilliard graduate Sarah Watkins in a tribute to life, grief, writing and music. In 1973, af…
SPEAKERS' CORNER: THE CRIME OF ADOPTION (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:19
Writer and filmmaker Barbara Sumner, author of 'Tree of Strangers', argues that adoption laws, which continue to deny adopted people access to their own information, treat mothers as dispensable and children as interchan…
CROSSING THE LINES: BRENT COUTTS (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:17
Ordinary men living through extraordinary times, New Zealand soldiers Harold Robinson, Ralph Dyer and Douglas Morison shared a queer identity and a love of performance, living as gay men within the military forces during…
FALE AITU: KIGHTLEY & RODGER (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:26
Many ancestral currents, past and present, carried Pasifika peoples from Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa to Aotearoa. Whilst each Pacific identity is unique, experiences of migration, colonialism, and courage are shared, and vividly…
SPEAKERS' CORNER: BEING MALE (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:33
Lawyer and writer Brannavan Gnanalingam is the author of the Ockham NZ Book Awards shortlisted 'Sprigs', a searing interrogation of sexual assault and masculinity. He argues that current cultural norms about being male c…
SPEAKERS' CORNER: THIS PĀHEHĀ LIFE (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:32
In the Ockham NZ Book Awards shortlisted 'This Pākehā Life: An Unsettled Memoir', Alison Jones contests that being Pākehā requires us to live in a state of “permanently lively discomfort with no single resolution...”, a…
NGĀ ORO HOU THE NEW VIBRATIONS (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:05
An exceptional evening performance brings together celebrated writers and taonga pūoro practitioners in a lyrical weaving of language and song. Arihia Latham, Anahera Gildea, Becky Manawatu, essa may ranapiri and Tusiata…
FAMILY DYNAMICS: O'BRIEN, GRIMSHAW, MEWBURN (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:34
Writing an honest and deeply personal memoir takes a certain degree of courage, and the journey can be fraught. In Lil O’Brien’s 'Not That I’d Kiss a Girl', she movingly recounts the fallout from her parents’ accidental…
LOVE LETTERS TO THE LAND: SANDERS & SULLIVAN (2021) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:54
“A lyrical love letter to the land” is how reviewer Linda Burgess describes Manawatu farmer, poet and performer Tim Saunders’ debut memoir 'This Farming Life'. Further south in Central Otago, novelist, memoirist, poet an…