Day 2 of the Auckland Writers Competition was an enormous success, just about totally so, as 1000’s made their solution to the Aotea Centre and packed out occasions each obscure and populist, with a radical change within the complexion and age of the demographic. Opening day, on Friday, was 97.8 per cent white and 65 per cent pensioned. Saturday’s common age dropped to roughly 49.6 and whitey shaped roughly 71 per cent. And so it was youthful and extra various and extra thrilling, the competition actually hitting its stride, occasions for youths, musical interludes, books flying out the door, signing queues stretching in direction of the door, plus I discovered a secret cache of chocolate lamingtons and looted it like a great ‘un.
I attended 4 occasions, one compulsorily so: my very own session at 1pm, speaking about Polkinghorne issues at a sold-out occasion within the Hunua Room. I repeat the train on Sunday, at 10m, as the one writer with two classes on the identical topic. Such is the enduring attraction of the homicide trial I wrote about in my e-book Polkinghorne. I count on there shall be a change of tempo at tomorrow’s occasion. The chair is legal defence lawyer Lorraine Smith. Lorraine is a sweetheart of defence regulation, a dwelling saint who all the time believes within the rights and presumption of innocence of not simply her personal shoppers however everybody charged with a critical crime. The chair on Saturday was one other lawyer, Woman Deborah Chambers KC. She had it in for Polkinghorne, who was discovered not responsible of homicide at his exceptional trial in 2024. She wasn’t having a bar of my open thoughts concerning the verdict. She went about it with blazing charisma. What a star she is, a lady of the golden east (Remuera), a Woman of the Realm who’s without delay regal and a shitstirrer; what I’m attempting to say is that she stole my very own present. Happily there was an extended signing queue after the occasion. Everybody was very good and I had a great chat with a key prosecution witness who had recognized “Polk” very properly, earlier than what occurred, earlier than he was shunned for the remainder of his pure life.
The undoubted star of the day was Witi Ihimaera. Everybody was speaking about him. They talked about him with shining eyes. He has printed a brand new memoir, Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer: I te Ao o te Reo, however he’s not a lot an writer nowadays as a cultural determine of immense significance. I can testify to Witi as a pure phenomena in every day life. We each reside in the identical neighbourhood (postcode 1011) and each time I run into him on the retailers I really feel within the presence of somebody particular, a sensible, light, thoughtful village elder. I used to be instructed that he radiated charisma with excessive power at his occasion on Saturday morning. He talked about his life, his journey between Pākehā and Māori, between youth and previous age. He honoured the reminiscence of his father when he stood with chair Stacey Morrison and led her into track. Stacey cried, Witi cried—apparently everybody was in tears. The extraordinary fantastic thing about it continued after his occasion on the signing desk. He signed his new memoir his memoir Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer: I te Ao o te Reo for 90 minutes. 90 minutes! In all my years of mooching across the AWF, the one different writers I can consider who’ve attracted such devotion and endurance are Haruki Murakami and the since-cancelled Neil Gaiman.
I missed Witi’s 10am occasion on the immense Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre. I used to be at a wierd and type of unsatisfying occasion elsewhere. Luke Kemp is the writer of Goliath’s Curse: The Historical past and Way forward for Societal Collapse. Sure, catchy title, and I used to be additional impressed when chair Julia Wheeler instructed the viewers he works on the Centre of Existential Threat at Cambridge. The place do you’re employed? As properly, Kemp appeared like one horny mofo together with his tan, his agency jaw, his darkish hair—there was a resemblance to Tom Cruise, the Tom Cruise of Prime Gun (unique model). He wore denims and an open-necked white shirt. He sat together with his legs aside. He leaned ahead. He talked at size, giving lengthy solutions, all the time engaged with the topic. What I’m saying is that he was a little bit of a bore.
It was lecture, fortunately interrupted and lightend by Wheeler, a former BBC journalist who was funnier than Kemp, higher spoken together with her posh King’s English. Kemp is Australian. He tended to swallow his vowels, and his monologues had a slurring high quality. However he had loads of zingers in his central thesis that the cradles of civilisation have been really f**ked and laid down the framework for our present empires, that are f**ked. “Historical Egypt,” he mentioned, “is a narrative of organised crime, not a narrative of civilisation.” And this, on historical Rome: “It was primarily a pyramid scheme.” And this, on Trump’s America: “It’s a thermo-nuclear monarchy.” Kemp got here throughout as an educational who wrote promoting copy. He had a great line that contradicted the notion that billionaires remoted in bunkers have the suitable thought on tips on how to survive an apocalypse. “It’s really going to be,” he mentioned, “survival of the friendliest.” Sharing assets, making alliances. Within the meantime, life is one polycrisis after one other.
There are an unbelievable 157 occasions on the 2026 AWF. Aotea Centre would collapse into chaos however for the regular nerves and calming intelligence of the volunteer employees, who direct site visitors and make the trains run on time. They set the tone for the competition. Backstage, tech individuals sorted out headsets; within the VIP lounge and writers room, caterers ready an awesome massive serving to of roasted agria candy potatoes with parsnip, carrot, lettuce, cranberries, toasted almonds and balsamic vinegar. I gave it a large berth. My solely gasoline was black filter espresso, Peroni, chocolate lamingtons, and one thing any person gave me to remain alert earlier than my Polkinghorne session—I had woken up at 4:30am, was unable to get again to sleep, and was exhausted by the point of my 1pm occasion. I put in a name to a cellular pharmacist and bounded onto the stage like a great ‘un.
I bumped into Simon Wilson later within the afternoon, and congratulated him for his dealing with of Ian McEwan on Friday evening. I requested him about his daring thought to cite a damning overview of McEwan’s newest novel (“melodramatic”) fairly early of their session. “Yeah, thanks, Simon,” mentioned McEwan, with a bitter twist of his mouth. It may have torpedoed the hour to return however Wilson was assured that his visitor would take it in his stride. He did. Many chairs veer to the center of the highway and solely ever reward, flatter, agree. It may be a horrible bore. Huzzah to Wilson for his difficult tactic.
A unique model was in place on Saturday when Petra Bagust chaired Mick Herron (Sluggish Horses) and Catherine Chidgey. As soon as upon a time Bagust was the coltish, hollering presenter of some youth TV present. Late-period Bagust radiates a way of gracious dwelling. She is sort, understanding, an Aunt of the Nation. She modelled unfastened materials onstage on the Hunua Room in a curious session dedicated to failure. However probably not failure. It was about failure up to now tense, failure from the previous, that has since been navigated and reckoned with and reworked into success. Hm. Attention-grabbing idea for an occasion. Herron talked a few horrible time in his life when he was caught in a dead-end job and nobody needed to publish his fiction and he was in a dying relationship. He was depressed for 4 years. God, what a complete loser he was! I may have listened to this sort of factor for hours.
Chidgey returned to a lesson from childhood. “Mum all the time mentioned to me and my sister, ‘Simply do your finest. That’s all we wish.’ However there was all the time an undercurrent of win. Succeed. I felt it was an unstated pressure.” She additionally summoned the current, speaking of how her newest novel The E-book of Guilt was shortlisted for this 12 months’s $65,000 Acorn prize on the Ockhams, however did not win at Wednesday evening’s ceremony. She was anticipating it. She had just lately been invited to a writers residency in a cottage on Bowen Island by the director of the Vancouver literary competition, Lesley Hurtig, who was additionally a decide of the 2026 Acorn prize. Chidgey mentioned, “My first thought was not, ‘Oh yay’, however that Lesley was providing it as a comfort as a result of I wasn’t getting the Acorn.”
All through the hour, Bagust drew out different, equally candid reflections and tales. On a chocolate lamington scale of 10 being a feast and 1 being a swizz, I price her 10 chocolate lamingtons. I price Simon Wilson 10 chocolate lamingtons, too. Julia Wheeler: 10 chocolate lamingtons. Woman Deborah Chambers: 10 chocolate lamingtons plus further cream.
There are 64 extra occasions tomorrow, Sunday, ending with Noelle McCarthy chairing Dame Jacinda Ardern. Extra excellence to return.
A overview of Day 3 on the Auckland Writers Competition shall be printed on Sunday evening.
