WORD Festival success a ‘good-news story’ for Christchurch
Top-selling thriller author Lee Child will visit New Zealand this year as part of the increasingly popular WORD Christchurch Festival.
Local hunger for live debate and discussion increased at this year’s festival, which ran from August 29 to September 2, with further events planned later in the year.
The biennial event featured more than 120 writers and nearly 100 events this year.
The festival continues its literary offering in November, bringing Child to Christchurch to mark the release of Past Tense, his latest Jack Reacher novel. More than 450 tickets have already been sold to the November 23 event, to be held at St Andrew’s College’s Centennial Chapel. Programme director Rachael King said having the chance to bring Child to the garden city was a coup, and a sign publishers had faith in WORD’s ability to gather a crowd. ‘‘He is so well respected across all genres, whether you like thrillers or literary fiction, he seems to appeal across the board.’’ Attendance at this year’s WORD Festival was up 25 per cent on the previous one.
‘‘We had just over 15,000 attend, which includes free events and between 8000 and 9000 tickets sold. We also had about 3000 school students who attended our free school events. But it wasn’t just the numbers that grew, we also had a real diversity of audiences coming to our events now too, a lot of young people.’’
The inclusion of Tusiata Avia as a guest programmer secured ‘‘a new eye for talent’’ and a bigger attendance by alternative and Pasifika readers, King said.
‘‘The New Regent Pop-Up Festival really brought through a young audience, which was great, and bringing in Avia as our guest programmer was a new idea to get other voices in the programme.’’
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh had to pull out of a scheduled appearance at the festival and was replaced by former Prime Minister Helen Clark. Mayor Lianne Dalziel hosted Clark at the Isaac Theatre Royal to a sold-out crowd.
‘‘She received a standing ovation at the end and made a surprise appearance in the foyer afterwards to shake hands and get selfies, sign a few books,’’ King said.
The festival’s popularity was ‘‘a real good news story’’ for the city.
‘‘Numbers aside, it’s great to be able to provide a platform in the city for conversations and debates about things going on in the world.
‘‘People are hungry for knowledge and the opportunity for discussion in real life, not just on screens or in the pages of a book,’’ King said.