A multimedia collaboration featuring leading musicians, novelists and poets will be one of the highlights of this year's Going West Books and Writers Festival.
Moana Maniapoto joins forces with electronic music producer Paddy Free for the first New Zealand performance by Tu, who have already appeared in festivals in Finland and Taiwan. The duo mixes mōteatea (sung poetry) with dub, chanting with drum and bass, English and te reo Māori
Going West festival programme director Nicola Strawbridge says Tu is in demand overseas and will make for a unique opening night event for the annual festival's weekend, from Friday, September 14 to Sunday, September 16.
Other highlights include appearances by acclaimed NZ writer Dame Fiona Kidman, who will discuss her new novel This Mortal Boy, and Weekend Herald columnist Lizzie Marvelly, who talks about her soon-to-be-released book The F Word. Fellow Herald writer Steve Braunias interviews father and daughter literary powerhouses CK Stead and Charlotte Grimshaw.
Poet Serie Barford will give the Curnow Reading while novelist Paula Morris delivers the Festival's keynote address as the Sir Graham Douglas Orator.