Word Festival 2024: Tina Makereti & Pip Adam Photo: Supplied
Writers, poets, musicians, artists and storytellers have descended on Otautahi Christchurch this week for the Word Festival. More than 100 guests have been taking part in sessions across venues in the city from the 27 August to 1 September.
This year’s festival kicked off by celebrating the 100th year of the late New Zealand author Janet Frame’s birth, challenging five writers to share moments of imagination and courage. A sold-out event, Risky Women featured singer-songwriter Anika Moa, filmmaker Christine Jeffs and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku. Audiences also engaged with a reading: of Oscar Kightley’s classic play Dawn Raids at Ngā Hau E Wha Marae. Two of this year’s most talked-about writers Talia Marshall and Saraid de Silva appeared, along with acclaimed writers Tina Makereti, Pip Adam and Steve Braunias.
More than 20 percent of this year’s programme has been free to attend - something the festival organisers say they are particularly proud of.
Joining Culture 101 to discuss the best of the festival is a dynamic panel.
Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) has written three novels, a short story collection and a collection of essays. Her most recent work, The Mires, was written while living on the Kāpiti Coast. She co-edited Black Marks on the White Page - an anthology that celebrated Māori and Pasifika writing. In 2016, her short story, Black Milk won the Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize - Pacific region.
Author and podcaster Pip Adam has published four novels and a short story collection. Her work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies in both New Zealand and overseas. In 2012, she received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand New Generation Award. Her last two novels, Nothing to See (2020) and Audition (2024) were both shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction and The New Animals (2017) won the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize. She also facilitates workshops in universities and other settings, including people affected by crime in prisons and communities. On her podcast, Better off Read, she speaks to fellow authors about reading and writing. Adam is currently a writer in residence for six months, alongside Nic Low, at the University of Canterbury.
