KEY POINTS:
I'm perplexed by the whole idea of writers and readers festivals. Isn't the point of books reading them and not listening to people talk about them? Do we need to turn authors into celebrities to enjoy their work more? And why would you expect a person who spends their working life alone to suddenly shimmy into the spotlight and perform?
The popularity of these festivals grows and grows but there are authors who agree with me.
"The nature of writing is that it's completely solitary," says English novelist Linda Grant (The Clothes on Their Backs). "You hope there is somebody out there in the world who is going to connect with what you're writing but they're doing it in solitude, which is reading. It's not a performance. It's not like being a singer, musician or actor where there is a direct relationship between the arts and the audience."
Aside from the torture of public speaking, authors have to contend with potentially ego-bruising stuff - the unspoken competition over whose event sells the most tickets, who gets the longest queue at the signing table, who gets invited to the in-crowd's private drinks and dinner parties.
That said, the Auckland Writers and Readers' Festival is a friendly event and it gets bigger and better.
This year's glittering guest-list includes Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz, Booker winner Anne Enright and Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee. They are joined by a hefty line-up of other international authors.
Hopefully the bright foreign stars won't cast our home-grown talent into the shadows. Two local authors guaranteed to be entertaining are Shonagh Koea (The Kindness of Strangers) and Steve Braunias (How to Watch a Bird). I've seen both speak and they have a sort of offbeat brilliance that makes them compelling and amusing.
Columnist Joe Bennett is bound to enthral on the subject of his book Where Underpants Come From. And Laurence Fearnley (Edwin and Matilda) has a passion that comes through when she speaks about her work.
The festival is at the Aotea Centre from May 14-18, go to www.writersfestival.co.nz for more information. And if you can't attend, don't worry, you could always stay home and read a good book.
Nicky Pellegrino's most recent novel, The Gypsy Tearoom (Orion, $27) is out this month in paperback.
- Detours, HoS
