Auckland Writers Festival

There are approximately three million robots working in factories around the world, and another 30 million in people’s homes. Soon robots will outnumber humans. But what happens if an autonomous AI harms or kills a person, deliberately or accidentally? It will happen. In fact, it already has. In Machines Behaving Badly, Professor Toby Walsh – Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW Sydney, and a leading advisor to the UN on lethal autonomous weapons (aka killer robots) discusses a future where machines start to shape society in ways we are not aware of. Described as a ‘rock star of Australia’s digital revolution’ he explores such questions as whether robots can have rights and if Alexa is racist with Toby Manhire. Supported by Platinum Patrons Dame Rosie & Michael Horton. SAT, 20 MAY 2023, 11:30am – 12:30pm, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

The judges for the winning 2022 Booker Prize praised Shehan Karunatilaka’s novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida for the ‘ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques’. Set in Sri Lanka during the 25- year civil war, a murdered photographer has seven days to solve the mystery of his own death. It’s a philosophical tale but at the heart of the novel is the horror of a devastating conflict. ‘Sri Lankans specialise in gallows humour. It’s our coping mechanism’, said Karunatilaka. With renewed political and economic crisis in his country, Karunatilaka discusses with Brannavan Gnanalingam how the corruption and race-baiting of the past is still having its ghostly effects on current tumultuous times. Supported by Asia New Zealand Foundation / Te Whītau Tūhono. SAT, 20 MAY 2023, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

Delightfully inventive and witty, Daniel Lavery (as Mallory Ortberg) was the cofounder of The Toast, the pop-culture platform with literary depth that described its target audience as ‘librarians’. The best-selling author of Texts from Jane Eyre and Merry Spinster, next wrote Something that May Shock and Discredit You, an exhilarating series of essays combining personal revelations with cultural deepdives. With chapter introductions such as ‘When You Were Younger and You Got Home Early and You Were the First One Home and No One Else Was Out on the Street, Did You Ever Worry That the Rapture Had Happened Without You? I Did’, Lavery hilariously toggles between his transition, his religious upbringing, and the evolving relationship with the women in his life, while riffing on the Golden Girls, Lord Byron, Rilke, Anne of Green Gables, Columbo, and the cast of Mean Girls. He chats with Claire Mabey. FRI, 19 MAY 2023, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

With open source AI chatbots capable of generating text that appears increasingly human, will they eventually replace writers altogether? Some claim that AI will never have enough creativity, empathy or originality – but over time could even these qualities be assimilated by robotwriters? Canvas editor Sarah Daniell recently experimented with getting a bot to write her column. Alongside novelist Catherine Chidgey, she will interrogate two experts on whether they could relinquish the empty white page to a bot. Toby Walsh is Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW Sydney and author of Machines Behaving Badly and 2062: The World that AI Made. Te Taka Keegan is a Co-Director at University of Waikato’s Artificial Intelligence Institute, which has developed some of the most popular open-source tools in the world. He works on projects involving the use of te reo Māori and technology. Together they’ll discuss AI’s usefulness and limitations and what the future might look like when it comes to creative writing. Supported by Royal Society Te Apārangi. FRI, 19 MAY 2023, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, Hunua Room, Aotea Centre

In Another Day in the Colony, Mununjali and South Sea Islander health activist Chelsea Watego has a chapter called F**k Hope. She urges her mob to be nihilistic because hope is the dream deferred, better to embrace sovereignty and take matters into your own hands. Sharing the conversation is podcaster and author Dr Emma Espiner (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Porou), who has an upcoming memoir There’s a Cure for This, and is an outspoken advocate for including Te Ao Māori within our healthcare system. They speak with Mihingarangi Forbes. First Nations series supported by the High Commission of Canada and the Australia Council for the Arts

In his book No Excuses Dave ‘the Brown Buttabean’ Letele shares how he overcame poverty, depression and crime to become an award-winning community leader inspiring people to turn their lives around. Willy De Wit was a regular on TV shows such as Funny Business, and a brekkie host on Radio Hauraki. In Drink, Smoke, Snort, Stroke he charts his journey from fame to drug addiction to a life altering debilitating stroke. Together, Letele and De Wit discuss the highs and lows, and what it has taken for them to rise above adversity and find their path in life. In conversation with David Downs. FRI, 19 MAY 2023, 1:00pm – 2:00pm, Limelight Room, Aotea Centre.

‘Whatever its subject, when a novel is powerful enough, it transports us readers deep into worlds not our own. That’s true of Moby Dick, and it’s certainly true of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which renders the process of designing a great video game as enthralling as the pursuit of that great white whale.’ Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air. Gabrielle Zevin’s 10th novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was an instant New York Times Bestseller, a Sunday Times Bestseller and a USA Today Bestseller. The story of two friends who come together as creative partners in the world of video game design where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality – it was the subject of a 25-bidder auction for the film rights which were acquired by Temple Hill and Paramount Studios. Born in New York, the daughter of a Korean mother and an Eastern European father, Zevin discusses how rewarding and tender and volatile creative collaboration can be, and what it feels like to truly share one’s work with someone. Chaired by Saraid De Silva. FRI, 19 MAY 2023, 10:00am – 11:00am, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

The word ‘Powwow’ is often used to refer to a quick impromptu meeting, but in Northern Plains Indigenous cultures, there is nothing quick or casual about their traditional gathering and ceremony. Rejecting misappropriation, where a cultural element is taken out of context and used in another – such as ripping off the Haka, or joking about didgeridoos– writers stand up for the cultural references that are dear to them and should be protected. First Nations series supported by the High Commission of Canada and the Australia Council for the Arts. SAT, 20 MAY 2023, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, Limelight Room, Aotea Centre.

Three young fluent te reo speakers producing inspirational work across a variety of genres, talk about the bravery and passion it took to take the unmapped uncharted leap into a creative life. Founding member of award-winning slam poetry group Ngā Hine Pūkōrero Arihia Hall (Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Tūkorehe); the youngest director ever selected for the NZ International Film Festival, Qianna Titore (Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Kaharau); and children's author Brianne Te Paa (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Te Whānau-a- Apanui) talk with acclaimed actress Hariata Moriarty (Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Ngā Puhi Hokianga ki te Raki) about the fear and courage of deciding to write, about creating their first pieces, and about the intersection between their culture and their art. Each writer will read, perform or screen part of an early work. Tokotoru ngā arero reo Māori rangatahi nō ētahi rāngai maha ka kōrero mō te māia me te kaingākau, nā konei rātou itakahi ai i te ara motuhake, otirā, i te ara kāhore i āta whakamaheretia, kia whai oranga ai i te ao auaha. Ka kōrero tahi ko te ringatito, rātou ko tētahi o ngā mema tuatahi o te kapa toikupu slam kua whakanuia ki te tohu toa anō hoki, o Ngā Hine Pūkōrero, ko Arihia Hall (Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Tūkorehe), ko te ringatohu tamariki katoa kua pōhiritia ki te taiopenga kiriata NZ International Film Festival, ko Qianna Titore (Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Kaharau); me te kiriwhakaari taiea, me Hariata Moriarty (Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Ngā Puhi Hokianga ki te Raki); ko Brianne Te Paa (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Aitangaa- Māhaki, Te Whānau-a-Apanui). Ko ā rātou kaupapa kōrero ko te wehi ki te tuhi, me te māia e tahuri ai rātou ki te tuhi, ko te waihangatanga mai o ā rātou titonga tuatahi, otirā, ko te hāngai o ō rātou ahurea ki ā rātou mahinga toi; mā ia ringatito hoki e pānui, e waiata, e whakaata rānei i tētahi wāhi o ā rātou mahinga toi tōmua. He Ahi Kei Taku Korokoro – My Throat Holds Fire series curated by Michael & Matariki Bennett. Supported by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori / Māori Language Commission. The session will be mostly in te reo Māori with simultaneous translation by Hemi Kelly.

Is The Axeman’s Carnival the great Kiwi Gothic classic? Plenty of reviewers think so. Catherine Chidgey surprised everybody when she revealed her next book was going to be narrated by a mimicking magpie. Would it work? It sure does. Not only is it funny and magical, it’s also a bird’s-eye view into the very real struggle of farming life, a nuanced portrayal of love and domestic violence, and a 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist. Following on from her 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for The Wish Child and the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisting for Remote Sympathy, she has become one of our preeminent fiction stylists. She’s definitely on a roll and her coming novel Pet takes a swerve into completely new territory again. She will discuss her writing life and Tama the magpie with Rachael King. Supported by Platinum Bold Patrons Betsy & Michael Benjamin.

2023 marks the centenary year of Katherine Mansfield’s too-soon demise from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 34. She is still cherished today in New Zealand and across the world, having played a part in shaping modernism, experimenting with style in a body of work that redefined genre. Some literary critics have called her the best short-story stylist of all time. In the tradition of closing the Festival with an Honoured Writer, we will honour and celebrate her in sparkling fashion with six passionate writers and performers sharing a personal anecdote about what Katherine Mansfield means to them. Supported by the Stout Trust, proudly managed by Perpetual Guardian.

In night, suspense, lawlessness, hazard, sensuousness and awe are evoked simply by stepping outside,” says Annette Lees, author of 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards longlisted After Dark – in which she walks readers into the nights of Aotearoa, in the company of bats, owls, moths and seabirds, on a fascinating exploration of stories beyond the dusk. Spend a magical lights-dimmed hour with Lees, storyteller Rewi Spraggon and taonga pūoro player Riki Bennett, as they lead you on an evocative journey from Hine-nui-te-pō to the dawn chorus via readings, music and a nature soundscape.