Duncan Sarkies to kick off 2012 Writers Read in Wellington
Massey University’s annual Writers Read series starts in Wellington next week with a reading by playwright, screenwriter and fiction author Duncan Sarkies.
Mr Sarkies is best known as the co-writer (with his brother Robert Sarkies) of the hugely successful 1999 film Scarfies. He has won several theatre and playwright awards and his collection of bleak and funny short stories stray thoughts and nose bleeds won the Hubert Church New Zealand Society of Authors Best First Book of Fiction Award. He has been a scriptwriter for Flight of the Conchords, and published his first novel, Two Little Boys, in 2008. The film of Two Little Boys (starring local hero Brett McKenzie) will be released this year.
Mr Sarkies will read excerpts from his new novel, The Demolition of the Century, and talk about how he wrote it. He will also share new writing from the forthcoming Two Little Boys movie, a soon-to-be republished set of short stories, and other works in progress. Mr Sarkies will be delivering his reading in conversation with Mark Amery on Thursday May 24 at 6pm, at the Massey campus off Wallace Street.
The other writers scheduled to read in Wellington are poet Rhian Gallagher and novelist Laurence Fearnley. For full details, see the programme below.
Writers Read is an annual series of readings by some of New Zealand’s foremost authors, with events in all three Massey cities: Wellington, Auckland and Palmerston North. The series started as a partnership with the Palmerston North City Library seven years ago, and spread to the capital two years later. Creative writing lecturer Dr Ingrid Horrocks, who coordinates the series, says this year the programme has broadened to include not only writing for screen and theatre but also non-fiction. Massey University Writer-in-Residence poet Johanna Aitchison was first up in the Palmerston North series on April 27, while best-selling American author Dr Jeffrey Masson read some of his work at Massey’s Albany campus on May 2.
Writers Read has featured many of New Zealand’s top literary figures over the years including Bill Manhire, Elizabeth Knox, Witi Ihimaera, Fiona Farrell and Vincent O’Sullivan. It now has a firm place in the literary calendar.
Wellington Writers Read programme:
Wellington events are on Thursdays at 6pm, in the Theatre Laboratory (5D14) Wallace Street, Entrance A:
May 24: Duncan Sarkies
July 26: Rhian Gallagher
September 13: Laurence Fearnley
Readings take about one hour. Everyone is welcome to stay for refreshments afterwards.