I guess somewhere in the definition of what a blog is all about the word regular appears. Hmmm, I err more on the irregular side of regular. My defence is that I’m too busy reading to add to all the cyber-noise. I’m sticking to that.
However, I have been lured back to the blogosphere by all the events at this year’s Auckland Writers & Readers Festival. Must be the largest gathering of NZ writers since the Frankfurt Book Fair last October, in fact.
Starting with a hiss and roar the festival opened last night with True Stories Told Live. Eight writers, eight stories, lots of fun. They were all good, but particular highlights include Jackie Kay’s search for identity, Selina Marsh’s poetic offering and Shehan Karunatilaka’s tale of boarding school hell.
Today I headed off to hear Jarrod Gilbert on the subject of gang culture in New Zealand. Sounded good, all that talk of hard-living and violent times. I snuck in a bit late surprised to see the author wearing a beret. I wondered what the patched up gang members thought of that. A few confused minutes later I realised that Gilbert had been cancelled and replaced with Edward Rutherford talking about his new book Paris. This was momentarily disappointing but Rutherford was charming and discursive. His topics ranged from the extreme importance of inbreeding to literary tourism to the diplomatic skills required to navigate the new publishing environment. And of course there was lots of Paris; Shakespeare & Company, Jim Morrison and Montmartre. It was rather nice to be whisked away to Europe for a bit.

Next stop Our Monied World with CK Stead and Charlotte Grimshaw.

In a (somewhat belated) final note to the Frankfurt Book Fair and all the Guest of Honour hoo-ha, I thought it was worth highlighting one of the quirkiest events that took place. In a sort of literary anthropomorphic tale of coals to Newcastle, Joy Cowley visited the Berlin zoo to read Old Tuatara and Snake and Lizard to the (reportedly) oldest living tuatara in the world, who hangs out at the zoo. He looks a little non-plussed himself, but everyone else certainly appears to have had a good time.

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And all in all I think that everyone had a good time throughout the whole thing. I certainly did – the fact that it’s been over a month since my last blog posting hints at just how exhausting it was too. And I’m eternally grateful to UNESCO and the Publishers Association who helped to cover my costs, which meant I was able to get there in the first place.

So, good luck to Brazil (Guest of Honour country in 2013) – they have a hard act to follow.

“We just did it and it was quite good” – Tanea Heke, Project Director at today’s handover ceremony where New Zealand passed on the Guest of Honour role to Brazil.

It’s the weekend and the public are allowed to roam the halles of the Frankfurt Book Fair. This brings a different vibe to the place; more casual, less intense, bigger crowds. Bit weirder too. This last bit is thanks to the hobbits, elves, avatars, ghosts and general other freaky creatures seen about the place. They are all set to participate in the great Cos Play competition. No, I didn’t know much about this either. But for further information go here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay.

In between the Cos Play extravaganzas the interest in New Zealand is still there and the Pavilion is jam-packed. At around 2pm this afternoon the escalators heading that way were put on hold in an attempt to ensure everybody’s safety. I can only imagine it getting busier as the afternoon wore on – particularly with Richard Taylor appearing late afternoon. But by this time I had returned to the Publishers Association stand which has seen a dramatic increase in interest in New Zealand books from the general public. There is a great tradition in Frankfurt of publishers selling their books at a knockdown rate on the final weekend and so there were lines of enthusiastic Germans queuing up to see what bargains could be had.

The writers programme continues to roll on throughout the weekend. Today’s opening session is a lively discussion on the various forms of Maori storytelling featuring Karl Johnston, Robert Sullivan, James Rickard, Paul Tapsell and Joe Harawira. The session covered a lot of territory in just under an hour including the link between Maori myth and truth, the story as a vehicle of love and finding identity through stories. As it continued, the audience also got the message that Maori stories are told through words but also through ta moko, carving and weaving. What was most pronounced though was the concern around young Maori, particularly urban Maori and how they have lost their way into the stories that have the ability to allow them to make sense of their lives.

As somebody who has actively avoided vampire novels, it was with some trepidation that I sat down to hear paranormal romance writer Nalini Singh talk about her books. Of which there are many, all with a fantastical and often vamipirical bent. They sell in huge quantities (especially in Germany and the US) and she certainly had a strong fan base in the audience today. The books sound like fun, especially the series set in New York where the city is run by an archangel who uses vampires as servants. In the end though I’m not sure I’ll get round to reading any of them – I just can’t do the willing suspension of disbelief required for all the alpha wolves, changelings, shape-shifters, vampires and angels. But clearly I was in the minority today. Nalini herself was so sweet and enthusiastic that if I ever do decide to read a paranormal romance it will definitely be one of hers.

Paul Cleave and Catherine Robertson were headlining under the banner New Zealand Humour in Translation. They didn’t have time to get much into the translation side of things (as the moderator pointed out, you could run a whole conference on that) but they did have time to read from and chat about their work in a general way. I was particularly drawn to Paul Cleave’s dark comedy and enjoyed his scatological humour. Unexpected and quite welcome amongst some of the bloodier scenes in his books.

And owing to technical incompetence on my part, photos of the PANZ party still to come. Sigh.

It’s day something. I forget which. Let’s just say it’s been a few.

Being in the Frankfurt Messe makes me think I may be caught up in a kind of publishing time-slip where the days merge into one and the only noise is a kind of humming and thrumming of business being done. I can’t make out sentences, just words like ‘augmented reality’ and ‘Android’ and ‘EPUB 3′ as I wander round the Book Fair (I know, I know, I should be over this by now) awed by the scale of the thing. But in a venue offering non-stop shuttles to take you from one place to another, you know you’re somewhere a bit bigger than The Cloud. And as I have Frankfurt feet, I’m very grateful to those shuttles.

The Pavilion continues to draw oohs and aahs from the crowds drifting in and out and it’s fabulous to see a bit of Book Council material in the audio-visual display. Go here for the original material – http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Readers/Introduction/Fast-Fives-from-the-Festival.htm. And just as an aside there are some great writers’ interviews further down the page there, too. But I digress.

Back to the Pavilion. Today brought more events, panels, chats, readings etc. featuring all sorts of writers including Linda Olsson, C.K. Stead, Kate De Goldi, Hamish Clayton, Paul Cleave, Justin Paton, Bronwyn Hayward, and a celebration of the life of Margaret Mahy – a worthy tribute indeed. There’s a bit of a distraction from the audio playing on the main stage, but it comes and goes and it’s possible to tune out when the writers are doing their bit.

The Pavilion is impressive but has not been without mishap – given the layout and the lighting its perilously easy for distracted visitors to slip off the walkway and into the (shallow) water which surrounds it. It’s a very small drop so relatively low-risk. However, a reliable source did confirm yesterday that there have been two full immersions and six minor derailments (one featuring luggage and stilettos) to date. Today’s attendants have torches.

Meanwhile on the Publishers Association stand things have ticked along nicely. The morning got off to a sedate start as bleary-eyed publishers arrived following a night of stand parties, big dinners and general carousing. This is of course, an integral part of clinching the deal. Apparently. And then all of a sudden in that time-slip sort of way, it was 5pm and time for the next networking opportunity at the Australian Publishers Association stand party. And so it goes on.