Free *Registrations essential: info@goingwestfest.co.nz

Writing in 3D | Embarking on a theatre script | With Gary Henderson | 10am
Creative Writing to Evoke | With James George | 12pm
Poetry | With Apirana Taylor | 2pm

Gary Henderson is a playwright, theatre director and highly regarded teacher of writing for theatre, based in Oratia, West Auckland. His work has been published by Playmarket in New Zealand and Bloomsbury Methuen Drama in London. In 2013 he won the Playmarket Award in recognition of his significant artistic contribution to New Zealand theatre. He currently teaches at Unitec in Auckland, the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University, and convenes the Graduate Studio in Oratia.

James George is a novelist and short story writer of Ngapuhi, English and Irish descent. He is author of Wooden Horses, Hummingbird, and Ocean Roads. His works have been twice shortlisted for Montana NZ Book Awards, the Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and Pacific Region.) James teaches and mentors on the Master of Creative Writing programme at AUT University in Auckland

Apirana Taylor, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Pākehā, is a nationally and internationally published Māori poet, storyteller, playwright, novelist, actor, painter and musician. He was Writer in Residence at Massey University in 1996, and Writer in Residence at Canterbury University in 2002. His poetry and short stories are studied in secondary schools, polytechnics and universities, and have been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian and French. He reads his work at schools, tertiary institutions, universities, prisons and libraries.