Going West
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The Going West Books & Writers Festival is a New Zealand literary festival which began in 1996 in West Auckland. It was Auckland's first literary festival, and is one of the longest-running literary festivals in New Zealand. Going West predominantly features New Zealand writers, poets, and orators, often with a West Auckland connection.
Origin
[edit]Going West was founded by Naomi McCleary, arts manager for Waitākere City, and Murray Gray, owner of Parnell bookshop Under Silkwood, with the assistance of Bob Harvey, Mayor of Waitakere.[1][2][3] Gray stepped down as programme director in 2015 after 20 years and was succeeded by Robyn Mason, now the archivist and curator; as of 2021 the director is James Littlewood.[4][5]
The festival's name was inspired by a passage in Maurice Gee's 1992 novel Going West which describes a train journey from the western suburb of Henderson to central Auckland. In 1996 the organisers assembled friends to reenact the trip with a hired steam train, running poetry readings and events at train stations along the way. There were even readings on the train itself.[6] The programme was put together by Murray Gray and Peter Simpson, and Gil Hanly and Marti Friedlander acted as photographers.[1]
The inaugural Going West festival was held in a "freezing Corban Estate concrete warehouse" on 13–14 July 1996.[7] The first words spoken were in Māori, by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku as part of the session "Breathing Words" with Robert Sullivan and Bernard Makoare, a recitation of Māori oral and written literature.[1] It followed a performance on traditional Māori instruments (taonga pūoro) by Makoare.[8] One panel featured Maurice Shadbolt, Dick Scott and Kevin Ireland; another comprised Debra Daley, Emily Perkins, and Stephanie Johnson. In 1997 Maurice Gee attended, and read from his book Going West at the Henderson Railway Station.[7]
By its tenth year, the festival consisted of a three-day literary weekend at a single venue, Titirangi Memorial Hall, followed by an all-day trip on a steam train, hired for $15,500, to Helensville and back, stopping at five stations. The cost of the train was offset by sponsorship.[3]
Eventually the Sunday train schedule changed and it became too difficult to book a private train.[6] The festival is now held annually in a variety of Waitakere locations, including West Auckland's Civic Building, Lopdell House, Glen Eden Playhouse and Te Uru. Going West 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19 and took place as a series of podcasts, but returned in 2021 in a new format with multimedia events and monthly live performances.[1][9][5] Poets and filmmakers collaborated to make short films as part of a series called Different Out Loud.[10]
Going West is one of the longest-running literary festivals in New Zealand.[5] From the inaugural 1996 festival every session was recorded onto broadcast-quality tape by sound technician Dave Hodge, who worked with the festival for 24 years.[1][7] In 2003 Auckland Libraries partnered with the Going West Festival Trust to support Dave Hodge in recording every session and preserve the Going West audio archive.[7]
Notable participants
[edit]- Sam Hunt (1996)
- Maurice Gee (1997, 2000)
- Maurice Shadbolt (1997)
- Hone Tuwhare (1999)
- Michael King (2001, 2003)
- Max Cryer (2002)
- C. K. Stead
- Fiona Kidman
- Sir Bob Harvey (2013)
- Rod Oram (2017)[11]
- Paula Morris (2018)
- Bill Manhire
- Allen Curnow
- Selina Tusitala Marsh - New Zealand Poet Laureate (2017)[12]
- Charlotte Grimshaw (2018)[13]
- Elizabeth Knox (2019)[14]
- Karlo Mila (2021)[15]
- Daren Kamali (2021)[16]
External links
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Going West Trust (16 September 2021). Voices of Aotearoa: 25 years of Going West oratory. Auckland: Oratia Books. ISBN 978-0-947506-97-1. OCLC 1246623097. A collection of keynotes speeches from the Going West audio archive.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Black, Eleanor (11 July 2020). "Gee whiz: Going West celebrates 25 years". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "Twelve Questions: Murray Gray". New Zealand Herald. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ a b Larsen, David (4 September 2005). "Full steam ahead for Going West festival". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Rees-Owen, Rose (15 July 2015). "Going West Books and Writers Festival founder steps down". Stuff. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ^ a b c NZ Booklovers (1 August 2021). "Interview with Going West Festival Director James Littlewood". NZ Booklovers. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Going West Books and Writers Festival founder steps down". Stuff. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d McCleary, Naomi; Berman, Sue (4 September 2017). "The Going West archive - Out of the box". Heritage et AL. Auckland Libraries. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "Prestigious West Auckland literary festival celebrates 25 years". Te Ao – Māori News. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
- ^ Going West Festival (1 July 2021). "Fresh New Format Marks Going West Festival's 2021 Live Season". Scoop News. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ^ OurAuckland (15 April 2021). "Going West Festival launches 'Different Out Loud' season". OurAuckland. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Ell, Sarah (2 September 2017). "Into the deep caves". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Selina Tusitala Marsh - Poet Laureate, retrieved 25 August 2021
- ^ Braunias, Steve (13 April 2021). "Knowing Charlotte as I do". Newsroom. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
- ^ Metro (3 September 2019). "Star literary line-up at the 24th Going West Festival". Metro. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Books, The Spinoff Review of (26 July 2021). "Goddesses respond to Karlo Mila's book of poems, Goddess Muscle". The Spinoff. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ "Going West Writers Festival - Gala Night". KickArts. Retrieved 1 September 2021.