{"id":2250,"date":"2016-05-16T09:38:59","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T21:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/?p=2250"},"modified":"2018-11-07T13:55:10","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:55:10","slug":"2250-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/2250-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"writers<\/p>\n

For a word lover the Auckland Writers Festival is about as close to christmas as you can get. One brilliant mind after another, speaking to hoards of wide-eyed readers, flat-white in one hand, moleskin notebook in the other.<\/p>\n

For me it began on Friday as I watched Noelle McCarthy, John Boyne<\/a>, and Irish poet Paul Muldoon describe Ireland’s uprising in ‘From 1916 to Here.’\u00a0The mature lady next to me, shoes already off and pen at the ready, asked if I might be able to ‘give her a nudge if she nodded off.’\u00a0She did nod off, but I felt mean robbing her of sleep.<\/p>\n

Later that day Elanor Catton spoke with\u00a0Edward Carey<\/a>, author of the Iremonger Trilogy, where its inhabitants live in Heaps, a vast sea of lost and discarded items collected from all over London. Edward’s illustrations are dark, gloomy, cold, depressing and brilliant.\u00a0Cha-ching went the till.<\/p>\n

There was a Michael Grant<\/a>\u00a0talk, Tom Gates author Liz Pichon, a tribute to Vincent O’Sullivan and a lively Bill Oddie telling a packed house why he threw Jesus out and kept Elvis. Long story.<\/p>\n

In the VIP lounge I met Petina Gappah<\/a>, the charming and hilarious Zimbabwean-Genevan lawyer turned novelist. What a mind! I was introduced to\u00a0Michel Faber<\/a>\u00a0and we talked music. He likes to be challenged when he’s writing, nothing nostalgic, something gripping, like Coil or Current 93. Then I discovered his latest work ‘The Book of Strange New Things.’\u00a0Cha-ching went the till.<\/p>\n

The Herald Theatre is a beautiful space in which to talk. I spoke on Sunday afternoon, but why was I so nervous? Didn’t I do school talks often? Yes, but this was a theatre<\/em>. 30 minutes flew by, thanks to a hilarious crowd of kids, happy to turn bananas into penguins, tea towels into chickens, each clutching a copy of ‘Shot, Boom, Score!’ which I was more than happy to sign.<\/p>\n

Festival staff: 10\/10.\u00a0Keeping 65,000 people happy can’t be easy.<\/p>\n

What a bugger. Having to wait another year and all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a word lover the Auckland Writers Festival is about as close to christmas as you can get. One brilliant mind after another, speaking to hoards of wide-eyed readers, flat-white in one hand, moleskin notebook in the other. For me …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[340,37,40,372,375,343,376,374,377,129,341,342,146,257,185,192,225],"class_list":["post-2250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wordy-advice","tag-auckland-writers-festival","tag-boom","tag-bowling-through-india","tag-city-of-100-lovers","tag-cricket-speak","tag-edward-carey","tag-justin-brown-amazon","tag-justin-brown-author","tag-justin-brown-lee-child","tag-kiwi-speak","tag-michael-grant","tag-michel-faber","tag-myth-new-zealand","tag-rugby-speak","tag-score","tag-shot","tag-uk-on-a-g-string"],"yoast_head":"\nAuckland Writers Festival = Brilliant - Justin Brown<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant - Justin Brown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For a word lover the Auckland Writers Festival is about as close to christmas as you can get. One brilliant mind after another, speaking to hoards of wide-eyed readers, flat-white in one hand, moleskin notebook in the other. For me ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Justin Brown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-15T21:38:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-11-07T00:55:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1a3a364d7da33edefbb0893cde790893\"},\"headline\":\"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-15T21:38:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-07T00:55:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":342,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/newsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/writers-festival-pic.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"auckland writers festival\",\"Boom\",\"bowling through india\",\"city of 100 lovers\",\"cricket speak\",\"edward carey\",\"justin brown amazon\",\"justin brown author\",\"justin brown lee child\",\"kiwi speak\",\"michael grant\",\"michel faber\",\"Myth New Zealand\",\"rugby speak\",\"score!\",\"Shot\",\"uk on a g-string\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Wordy advice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant - Justin Brown\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/newsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/writers-festival-pic.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-15T21:38:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-07T00:55:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1a3a364d7da33edefbb0893cde790893\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/newsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/writers-festival-pic.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/newsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/writers-festival-pic.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":2048},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/2250-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Justin Brown\",\"description\":\"Bestselling New Zealand Author\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1a3a364d7da33edefbb0893cde790893\",\"name\":\"Justin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bff26e2c743a3ab8b512e332394c7660e18f4f8d21f4886968f5bb18f4330212?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bff26e2c743a3ab8b512e332394c7660e18f4f8d21f4886968f5bb18f4330212?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bff26e2c743a3ab8b512e332394c7660e18f4f8d21f4886968f5bb18f4330212?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justinbrownbooks.com\\\/newsite\\\/author\\\/justin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant - Justin Brown","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant - Justin Brown","og_description":"For a word lover the Auckland Writers Festival is about as close to christmas as you can get. One brilliant mind after another, speaking to hoards of wide-eyed readers, flat-white in one hand, moleskin notebook in the other. For me ...","og_url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/","og_site_name":"Justin Brown","article_published_time":"2016-05-15T21:38:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-11-07T00:55:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":2048,"url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Justin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1a3a364d7da33edefbb0893cde790893"},"headline":"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant","datePublished":"2016-05-15T21:38:59+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-07T00:55:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/"},"wordCount":342,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg","keywords":["auckland writers festival","Boom","bowling through india","city of 100 lovers","cricket speak","edward carey","justin brown amazon","justin brown author","justin brown lee child","kiwi speak","michael grant","michel faber","Myth New Zealand","rugby speak","score!","Shot","uk on a g-string"],"articleSection":["Wordy advice"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/","url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/","name":"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant - Justin Brown","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-15T21:38:59+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-07T00:55:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1a3a364d7da33edefbb0893cde790893"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg","width":2048,"height":2048},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/2250-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Auckland Writers Festival = Brilliant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/","name":"Justin Brown","description":"Bestselling New Zealand Author","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1a3a364d7da33edefbb0893cde790893","name":"Justin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff26e2c743a3ab8b512e332394c7660e18f4f8d21f4886968f5bb18f4330212?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff26e2c743a3ab8b512e332394c7660e18f4f8d21f4886968f5bb18f4330212?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff26e2c743a3ab8b512e332394c7660e18f4f8d21f4886968f5bb18f4330212?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justin"},"url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/author\/justin\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7mBXS-Ai","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/writers-festival-pic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinbrownbooks.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}