14 February 2024
Tracey Slaughter is an award-winning poet, fiction writer and essayist, whose latest works include Devil’s Trumpet and Conventional Weapons (both from Te Herenga Waka Press). She is the editor Poetry Aotearoa, New Zealand’s longest-running poetry journal, and she teaches Creative Writing at the University of Waikato.
I asked Tracey to let me know what she's most looking forward to in the 2024 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts Writers Programme (23-25 February).
Sandra Cisneros and Tusiata Avia: First Penned: A once-in-a-lifetime chance to soak-up the genius of two fierce inspiring women-writers – the breakthrough books they’re discussing in this session never cease to take my breath away.
Anne Enright: Love’s Weight: My connection with Enright’s books has been intense since I first encountered The Gathering – each new work from her is an event in my solar plexus. Her sentences, and the brave places they go, fill me with awe.
Emily Perkins: Lioness: A writer whose story-lines hold such electric crackle, her work always holds me in psychological thrall. Any novel from this incandescent NZ writer is something I’m only too pleased to let consume me.
Stay the Line: This is a party at the cutting-edge of Aotearoa’s poetry not to be missed! With dazzling, high-impact voices like essa may ranapiri, Khadro Mohamed, Hannah Mettner and Sam Duckor-Jones responding to the provocation ‘mettle’ what more could you ask for? Even more Sandra Cisneros!
Rachel Davies: The Magic of Movement: I’m a wild fan of anything that explores the fusion of writing with the embodied arts (especially now I’m poised to take my first taste of life on stage later this year). This invitation to tap into the unconscious through active play and theatre-inspired movement sounds like an intoxicating mix to me.
