Writers on Mondays 2016 brings together a line-up of exciting new and established talents to showcase what’s happening in the world of New Zealand writing.

Headlining Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) 2016 season are award-winning New Zealand authors Anne Kennedy, Patricia Grace and Jenny Bornholdt.

Director of IIML Professor Damien Wilkins says the combination of new voices and established writers in Writers on Mondays is wonderful.

“This series is a brilliant fixture on the literary calendar and it’s free!”

The Writers on Mondays programme runs from 11 July to 26 September. Sessions are from 12.15-1.15pm at Te Papa in Te Marae (Level 4), except for Short Sharp Script 1 & 2, which are at Circa Theatre.

The programme kicks off in style with the innovative and genre-bending 2016 Victoria University of Wellington Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence Anne Kennedy in conversation with Pip Adam about the times Kennedy has written in and about, and how different genres require a writer to use time in different ways.

The following Monday, Arts Foundation Icon Patricia Grace joins accomplished writer for screen and stage Briar Grace-Smith for a look into the career of this deeply subtle, moving and subversive writer.

On 25 July Chris Price introduces a quartet of new poets. Bill Nelson, Claire Orchard, Hera Lindsay Bird and Lynley Edmeades have published diverse and exciting first books this year which are showcased in this session.

Next, Sue Orr, novelist and short story writer, and Tracey Slaughter, whose debut short story collection Deleted Scenes for Lovers has just been published, join Damien Wilkins in a discussion about what it is to write New Zealand stories.

On 8 August we move from page to the stage when Ken Duncum chairs a discussion with Nina Nawalowalo and Victor Rodger, two of the country’s most exciting and accomplished theatre makers.

We celebrate the release of critically-acclaimed poet Jenny Bornholdt’s Selected Poems on 15 August when she is joined by fellow poet James Brown to talk about how she went from accidental poet to Arts Foundation Laureate and beyond.

August wouldn’t be the same without National Poetry Day (26 August). Writers on Mondays start the festivities early with the annual Best New Zealand Poetry reading on 22 August. Best New Zealand Poems 2015 editor John Newton chairs this lively session.

The disparate subjects of Ashleigh Young’s new collection of personal essays, Can You Tolerate This? illuminate the complex relationship between mind and body. Young is joined by writer Kirsten McDougall to discuss the craft of the personal essay and ways of writing about real events.

September sees our annual showcase of work from the current cohort of writers in the Master of Arts in Creative Writing Programme at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters. We begin with page writers then move to Circa Theatre where actors perform dynamic new work by participants in the MA scriptwriting workshop.

The full 2016 Writers on Mondays programme appears here. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Writers on Mondays is presented by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and additional support from Circa Theatre.

For more information contact Pip Adam on pip.adam@vuw.ac.nz or modernletters@vuw.ac.nz