Streetside is Auckland Writers Festival’s annual fringe event, taking place tonight in the heart of Britomart to coincide with the festival’s opening night.
It features a range of literary events, with guest appearances from writers.
Beth caught up with director of Streetside for 2025, Ruby Macomber, about the events planned for tonight
Sofia had a kōrero with Matariki Bennett about her debut poetry collection, e kō, nō hea koe, out now via Dead Bird Books
She also caught up w Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa, Ruth Buchanan, about their latest exhibition, Intimation of Endless Space Given in a Small Window of Time (approximately 10 minutes) by Lina Grumm and Ethan Braun.
And Beth had a kōrero with Ruby Macomber about Streetside, Auckland Writer’s Festival’s annual fringe event.
And for Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joined Sofia in the studio to chat with Evie Orpe and Becky Umbers about Comedy Fest.
e kō, nō hea koe is the debut poetry collection by award-winning slam poet and filmmaker Matariki Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hinerangi).
Published by Dead Bird Books, e kō, nō hea koe is “a series of goodbyes and attempts to slow the shedding, it's a group of teenagers sparking up as they watch the great pacific garbage patch catapult into space and become a second moon, it's endless conversations with Grandmama about stars, it is the constant rebirth of whakapapa and learning that silence isn’t the best part of her.”
Sofia caught up with Matariki about the themes of this body of work and how it came to fruition.
Intimation of Endless Space Given in a Small Window of Time (approximately 10 minutes) is a new exhibition by graphic designer Lina Grumm and composer Ethan Braun at Artspace Aotearoa.
The exhibition tends to relationships between sound, space, the visual, and the body, inviting deep listening and limitless interpretation, and engendering a gallery in constant flux.
Sofia had a kōrero with Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa, Ruth Buchanan, about the show and the artists.
Emily Cumming Harris was one of New Zealand’s first female botanical artists and writers. However, herself and her work has largely been forgotten. Neither her distinctive voice nor her almost 200 surviving images have been heard or seen in any quantity outside of archival or online spaces.
Groundwork: the Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris is a new book by author, poet and emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, Michele Leggott, and co-author Catherine Field-Dodgson, published by Te Papa Press. It is the first detailed study of Harris’ exhibiting practices.
Sofia had a kōrero with Michele and Catherine about the book and what inspired them to embark on this research
We listened back to Sofia's coverage of the Aotearoa Art Fair opening on Thursday evening.
Beth spoke to the director of Printopia Festival, Ina Arraoui, about the events planned for this year.
And Sofia spoke to co-authors Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson about their new book, Groundwork: the Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris.
And for Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joined Sofia in the studio to chat with Florence Hartigan and Shoshana McCallum about Me, My Mother and Suzy Cato and Merely Beloved! - both on at the Herald Theatre from 8-10 May.
Sofia went along to the opening night of the Aotearoa Art Fair. She asked a range of fair-goers what brought them there that evening, and their highlights of the fair thus far.
The Aotearoa Art Fair is on from 1-4 May at the Viaduct Events Centre.
Sofia had a kōrero with Aotearoa Art Fair director, Sue Waymouth, about the kaupapa of the fair and this year’s programme, ahead of its opening on 1st May.
Beth had a kōrero with Pōneke poet Cadence Chung about their latest collection of poetry, Mad Diva, out now via Otago University Press.
Cadence Chung is a poet from Pōneke. Her poetry has been featured in Aotearoa publications such as Bad Apple, Landfall, Starling and The Spinoff. Her chapbook, anomalia, was published in 2022.
Mad Diva is their latest collection of poetry, published by Otago University Press on April 8th. It is rich in imagery of divas in opera houses, art galleries, dive bars, bedrooms; in the purple light of Farmers at dusk and in Wakefield Street at midnight.
Beth had a kōrero with Cadence about Mad Diva, and how opera and poetry informed the other in her creative process
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