WORD Christchurch has a reputation for presenting a dynamic range of events and these days largely with local writers. Once upon a time when funding was more fruitful, regional writers festivals had the capacity to welcome more international guests to our fair shores. Now it\u2019s mostly homegrown talent filling the programme booklet, and this edition of WORD proves that can lead to punchy, inventive curation \u2013 and the return of the Covid-era digital event, too.<\/p>\n
Here are 10 events not to miss.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very excited for this book. John Summers<\/a> is one of our best essayists and I\u2019ve been hearing tantalising tidbits about this idea \u2013 to explore John\u2019s great fear of being lost in the wilderness \u2013 for a while now and have been growing impatient for the results. This special launch event is free (but please RSVP) and where you can squeeze in to be among the first hear all about it and buy it up, too.<\/p>\n The Silver Book was one of my favourite novels of 2025: a beautiful, painful story set in 1970s Italy where Fellini and Pasolini are making spectacular cinema. Laing will be beaming in from their home in the UK and speaking with Kiran Dass, WORD\u2019s programme director and long-time Laing fan. I\u2019m predicting the steady return of these Covid-era digital events over the next few years as the cost of travel fluffs budgets and arts funding remains woefully inadequate (I hope I\u2019m wrong but we\u2019ve been saying this for 20 plus years). But digital events can be fantastic: intimate, large-scale, and smooth so long as the tech holds up. Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n Sally Wenley\u2019s memoir, The Crash, is as phenomenal as Sally herself. In 1987 a terrible school bus crash made Wenley, a highly active, athletic student, a paraplegic: her life changed instantly and irrevocably. She\u2019s a brilliant speaker and this is bound to be a riveting hour in great company.<\/p>\n This is one of my favourite events full stop. It was masterminded by former WORD director Rachael King and is such a hit that it\u2019s still a festival staple. The idea is that six writers give a mini-lecture on something they\u2019re obsessed with. That premise gives rise to the strange and the ridiculous, the sublime and the stunning. It\u2019s a sure-fire good time and you\u2019ll definitely learn something fresh about your fellow humans.<\/p>\n No-brainer. Wherever Kate Camp and her diary are so you must be. Leather & Chains is the name of the book edition of Camp\u2019s hilarious, serious, marvellous 1986 diary<\/a> and when Camp reads from it the whole world tilts to attention. Just go.<\/p>\n I genuinely believe we all need to take care of our minds in the way we\u2019re being bullied into taking care of our protein needs. There is nothing better for the brain than reading for pleasure: it\u2019s both a holiday and a workout. Get that longform goodness into your neurons and stave off the phone addiction; a book a week keeps back the bleak, or something (I\u2019ll work on it). This salon is full of book nerds who just want to help (including me, maverick author Charlotte Grimshaw, gorgeous writer Shariff Burke<\/a> and the high priestess of Aotearoa books, Kate De Goldi). We\u2019ll be talking about three books that have inspired our latest publications and probably more beyond that, too.<\/p>\n Sometimes to get things done you have to do it yourself. In Aotearoa we have an amazing network of indie presses who are filling the gaps in the mainstream publishing lists and earning some huge wins while they\u2019re at it. This event brings Murdoch Stephens (Lawrence & Gibson, a publishing collective that turns 21 this year), Damien Levi of \u0100poro Press (publisher of Laura Vincent\u2019s award-winning Hoods Landing<\/a>), and Laura Borrowdale (ng\u0101 pukapuka pekapeka who are about to publish a thrilling looking collection from poet Rebecca Hawkes) <\/a>together to discuss the publishing eco-system and how they\u2019re changing it for the better.<\/p>\n What a lineup. Three of the best writers in Aotearoa all in one go. Knox\u2019s Night, Ma<\/a> and McCarthy\u2019s Stakes<\/a> are two of the best memoirs I\u2019ve read in a very long time. Grimshaw is of course the author of The Mirror Book,<\/a> the memoir that started this wave of brilliance, and is author of the novel The Black Monk<\/a> which plays with that same material through a fictional lens. I would not be missing this one fellas. This is envy-making programming and will make for a fascinating insight into how three brilliant, but very different, writers go about arranging their own lives on the page.<\/p>\n Theatre maker and writer Jo Randerson is uniquely placed to evangelise about art and convert us all to the benefits of bringing art into our daily lives (Important side note: Randerson\u2019s company Barbarian Productions<\/a> was one of the arts organisations subject to a significant decrease in CNZ funding in the recent round: decreased by two-thirds in fact. You can read their elegantly-worded statement about it on Barbarian\u2019s Facebook page)<\/a>. Secret Arts Powers, the book and the live lectures, is personal, political, funny and visionary. Randerson is a force of nature and I highly recommend spending time in their world. You\u2019ll be all the better for it.<\/p>\nThree brilliant books being launched and \/ or discussed at this year\u2019s WORD.<\/p>\n
From left to right: Murdoch Stephens, Damien Levi, Laura Borrowdale.<\/p>\n