Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Whanganui Literature Festival

The weekend before last I had the pleasure of being a guest at the Whanganui Literature Festival. Joan Rosier-Jones and her crew of trustees and volunteers put together a interesting and varied programme over the three days of the festival, with writers Elizabeth Knox, Elizabeth Smither, Jenny Robin Jones, Peter Wells, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Masterchef Brett McGregor, myself, Bill Manhire and Joseph Romanos.
One of the things I love about smaller festivals is the milling around and chatting with attendees and the happy buzz that permeates the whole affair. One of the things I particularly loved was having breakfast each morning with Jenny Robin Jones and Elizabeth Smither and friends. For a gal from a male dominated house (even the cat is a bloke) breakfasting with the ladies was wonderful.
I am very fond of Wanganui. Every time I go back the town has improved and there's always something cool going on. Festival weekend also coincided with the Wanganui Festival of Glass - the town has a vibrant art glass community and their work was on display throughout the shopping centre. Lets just say that I added to the local economy, ahem.
I had a great time at the Whanganui Literature Festival. Congrats to Joan and the organisers for a great event. I arrived back home feeling happily weary but invigorated.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vanda - Sounds wonderful! Glad you had a good time.

Beattie's Book Blog said...

This is the first I have heard of this Festival Vanda. What a shame they didn't let me know about it so I could have promoted it on the blog.