Top 5 things to see at the Writers Festival

NZ Herald

11 May, 2015 12:15 AM2 mins to read

Some of the world's best writers and thinkers are in town for the Auckland Writers Festival. Photo / Thinkstock

Many sessions for the upcoming Auckland Writers Festival (May 13-17) have sold out - too bad, fans of Haruki Murakami, David Walliams, Atul Gawande and many more - but there are still some gems with tickets available... if you're fast.

Here are five sessions recommended by books editor Linda Herrick:

1. A Law Legend: Sir Peter Williams

10am Friday May 15, Lower NZI Room, Aotea Centre

Possibly the last chance to celebrate the great legal advocate, who has terminal cancer, as he discusses some of the people and cases he has dealt with during his long, remarkable career; chaired by Bill Ralston.

2. Buy Me the Sky: Xinran

2.30pm Friday May 15, ASB Theatre

Author of The Good Women of China explores China's one-child policy, and its damaging impact on generations who grow up with an overweening sense of entitlement. Buy Me the Sky is based on a real conversation between a mother and daughter in which the child demanded exactly that. Chaired by Stephanie Johnson.

Xinran is the critically-acclaimed author of Sky Burial and other titles. Photo / File

3. Bond and Beyond: Anthony Horowitz

12pm Saturday May 16, ASB Theatre

Horowitz glides effortlessly between children's books and adult fare, from Alex Rider, to Sherlock Holmes, to crafting a new James Bond novel which will be released later this year. He's also written for popular TV series like

Foyle's War

and

Poirot

. Thrills galore for the whole family.

Anthony Horowitz glides effortlessly between children's books and adult fare. Photo / Supplied

4. Family Life

3pm Saturday May 16, Limelight Room

Actor Alan Cumming, London "literary salonniere" Damian Barr and New Zealand writers Witi Ihimaera read from their memoirs exploring the tensions that can and do arise in families. A free 50-minute session.

2015 New Zealand Honoured Writer: C.K. Stead

6pm Sunday May 17, ASB Theatre

Free event to salute the long career of Auckland writer C.K. Stead, novelist, critic, poet and essayist. Internationally acclaimed, Stead is a towering figure in our literary landscape and this valediction is richly deserved; chaired by Ruth Harley.