Writers on Mondays
A series of events highlighting the very latest work of writers active in Wellington and further afield. All in all, a lively and stimulating way to begin the week—and it’s free! Full venue information below event details.
Download the programme (1.2MB pdf)
July—September 2024 programme
8 July
Beautiful Archives: Airini Beautrais and Flora Feltham
Te Huinga Centre, Level 3, Te Papa Tongarewa
2024 brings two first essay collections from women working out how to live their lives and how to write about them. Airini Beautrais's The Beautiful Afternoon is intelligent and emotionally fearless, surveying literature, activism, gardening, pole dancing, motherhood, and the body, highlighting the political in the personal. Flora Feltham's Bad Archive is a funny and bracingly personal exploration of marriage, infidelity, a mother's mental illness, a lost sister, a frenzied bender in Croatia, and learning the craft of tapestry. These writers will be in conversation with writer and journalist Michelle Duff.
15 July
The Voyages Women Take: Ingrid Horrocks
Rongomaraeroa, Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa
Memoirist, essayist, poet, fiction writer, and scholar Ingrid Horrocks is the 2024 Writer in Residence at the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML). Her writing across genres explores voyages women take; whether set in Croatia, the Amazon, Scandinavia, or Days Bay, she writes vividly of women travelling in the company of family, journeying in pods, moving in response to kinship ties. The Australian Book Review called her most recent book of essays 'luminous' and 'a work of wondrous depth'. Kate Duignan talks with Ingrid about the breadth of her work, and her recent turn to fiction.
22 July
Re-Verse Yourself! Jane Arthur, Jake Arthur, and Sylvan Spring
Rongomaraeroa, Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa
How can poetry make room for versions of ourselves that the everyday world doesn't accommodate? How can it reckon with the perma-crisis we're living in? Whether questioning the limits of our comprehension, revising the Tarot to create a whole new cast of characters, or writing new bodies and identities into the record, poets Jane Arthur, Jake Arthur, and Sylvan Spring put their own spin on what it means to be alive right now. They appear in conversation with Pip Adam.
29 July
Unacknowledged Legislators: Hinemoana Baker, Tracey Slaughter, and James Brown
Rongomaraeroa, Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa
Auden's idea that 'poetry makes nothing happen' has been vigorously challenged by recent events in Aotearoa, and Hinemoana Baker, James Brown, and Tracey Slaughter are adept at creating compelling happenings in language. Hear three poets at the top of their game read from their recent work and discuss what poetry can do with publisher Fergus Barrowman. How does a poem talk back to its times, while remaining news that stays news? Are poets really, as Shelley insisted, the 'unacknowledged legislators of the world'?
5 August
He Pātaka—The House of Fiction: Tina Makereti
Te Huinga Centre, Level 3, Te Papa Tongarewa
What can make itself at home in the house of fiction? Houses, being at home, and neighbours all matter in Tina Makereti's new novel, The Mires. Described by Shankari Chandran as a novel about 'the monsters we've created and the power we have to stop them,' this novel asks how we imagine others' lives, and share our own stories with others. What stories are pressing for us now? What might fiction help us imagine? Dougall McNeill joins Tina to discuss world-building and the storehouse of storytelling in The Mires.
12 August
Whaea Blue: Talia Marshall
Rongomaraeroa, Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa
Whaea Blue, the highly anticipated memoir by Talia Marshall (Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Takihiku) is moving, haunting, funny, intelligent, and brutally honest. Talia writes about the kēhua that haunt her, her trips back to her whenua, her tīpuna, relationships and wāhine friendships, relations she recognises and meets all over the coutnry, and an ability to see tohu everywhere—in birds, in trees, and in the things people say. See Talia in conversation with Megan Dunn.
19 August
Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2023
Rongomaraeroa, Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa
'The idea of poetry is a shared language that helps us to hold up a mirror to the worlds so we can make something happen, from a declaration of love to a call for change', writes New Zealand Poet Laureate Chris Tse in his introduction to Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2023. Hear Chris introduce Hana Pera Aoake, Cadence Chung, harold coutts, Leah Dodd, Isla Huia, Arihia Latham, Jackson McCarthy, Hannah Mettner, Sinead Overbye, Emma Shi, Tracey Slaughter, Stacey Teague, and Marjory Woodfield as they read work from this annual anthology in a warm-up for National Poetry Day.
26 August
The Poet's Novel: Romesh Dissanayake and Louise Wallace
Te Huinga Centre, Level 3, Te Papa Tongarewa
In her incendiary novel Ash, Louise Wallace tells the story of a woman reckoning with the limits of her life under the patriarchy. When I Open the Shop by romesh dissanayake is 'a novel about loss, exile, and dislocation, in which time, space, and memory become a beautiful, fluid thing' (Brannavan Gnanalingam). These début novelists are also poets who have used formal play to give their narrative an extra gear. They explore the shifting borders between prose and poetry in conversation with Chris Price.
2 September
Anna Smaill and Carl Shuker in Conversation
Te Huinga Centre, Level 3, Te Papa Tongarewa
Literary power couple Anna Smaill (Bird Life) and Carl Shuker (The Royal Free) have both recently released stunning new novels. Anna's first novel, The Chimes, won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, while Carl's previous novel, A Mistake, is about to be a feature film. International success has also been accompanied by struggle. They are in conversation with Emily Perkins to discuss the new books, their life together, and how to survive both artistic setbacks and triumphs.
9 September
Harry Ricketts: A Life in Writing
Te Huinga Centre, Level 3, Te Papa Tongarewa
The publication of his acclaimed memoir First Things gives us a great opportunity to talk to Harry Ricketts about a lifetime of writing. Harry recently retired after a long and distinguished teaching career at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Harry's work includes a major biography of Rudyard Kipling, a study of the Great War poets, many essays and reviews, and a stunning body of poetry. Chaired by Damien Wilkins.
17 September (Tuesday)
The Next Page 1
6-7.30pm at MEOW
Catch the next wave of Aotearoa New Zeland writers before it breaks with these vibrant and various readings from the MA (Page) workshops of the IIML. Grab a drink and settle in for a night of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction featuring Sebastian Morgan-Lynch, Miriam Brown, Sophie Rae-Jordan, A J Carney, Stella Slomp, Katie Lane, Ruth Weatherall, Gilbert Ostini, Tess Ritchie, Katja Mokha, Margaret Brooker, Cherllisha Silva, Phoebe Robertson, John Tuke, and Frances Chin.
18 September (Wednesday)
The Next Page 2
6-7.30pm at MEOW
The second wave of incoming writers reaches shore: tonight, Amelia Reynolds, Francesca Pietkiewicz Nutsford, Sarah Dale, Pearl Tuohy, Olivia Henderson, Wil McNally, Tessa Scott Belich, Rupert Levien, Hannah Marshall, Rata Lee, Tess Casey, Jemma Richardson, Li Tao, and Heather Holdaway read from their work.
23 September
Short Sharp Script 1
Circa Theatre
Actors perform dynamic new work by MA scriptwriting students from the IIML. This week, scripts by Amelia Addis, Keely Carter, Samuel Cotter-Dephoff, Finn Holland, and Jeremy Macey are introduced by Ken Duncum.
30 September
Short Sharp Script 2
Circa Theatre
More exciting new work in progress from the second group of IIML scriptwiters at Circa Theatre. This week, the spotlight falls on work from Alexander Nebesky, Alex Quinn, Alaina Wilks, and Joshua Winger. Introduced by Ken Duncum.
Venue Information
Events run on Mondays from 12.15 to 1.15 pm at Rongomaraeroa (Te Marae), Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa, except for:
- Monday 8 July, 5 and 26 August, and 2 and 9 September: Te Huinga Centre, Level 3, Te Papa Tongarewa, 12.15-1.15pm
- The Next Page 1 & 2: Meow (9 Edward Street), Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 September, 6-7.30pm
- Short Sharp Script 1 & 2: Circa Theatre, Monday 23 and 30 September, 12.15-1.15pm
Signage at Te Papa will point you in the direction of the event. Ask a Te Papa host for help if needed.
To reach Te Huinga, take the lift of the right-hand side of Te Papa's entrance foyer to Level 3A.
Admission is free. All Welcome.
Writers on Mondays is presented with The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Circa Theatre, and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day. Supported by the Letteri Family.
