Cutting Edge Authors This Way Up at London Festival

New Zealand and Australian artists will be showcased in This Way Up, “a festival of seriously good literature, film, music and performance from two countries at the (cutting) edge of the world”, in London from 29 May through 1 June.

This Way Up, the Australia and New Zealand Festival of Literature and Arts, boasts some of the two nations’ biggest talents, supported by some familiar international names, in 60 events over four days.

Australian Tim Winton will discuss his new novel, Fay Weldon chats to New Zealand writer Paula Morris; other events feature Stella Duffy (pictured), Witi Ihimaera, CK Stead and Ian Wedde.

The festival is there, in a nutshell, to help the authors find their market, and the market to find the authors.

“The big challenge for all writers worldwide is discoverability in a huge global online market,” director of literature funding at the Australia Council Jill Eddington says. “No, [writers] don’t need to move to the northern hemisphere. The old boundaries and borders are less and less relevant.”

Original article by Nick Miller, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 20, 2014.