David Walliams to Headline Word Christchurch’s Autumn Season

David Walliams to Headline Word Christchurch’s Autumn Season in May.

World-renowned children’s writer, comedian, actor and TV celebrity David Walliams is heading to Christchurch for his only South Island appearance on 14 May, 2015. He will appear live on stage at the Charles Luney Auditorium at St Margaret’s College, in a show especially for children and families, where he will chat about his books and read from his work, including his latest novels Awful Auntie and Demon Dentist. Tickets available now at dashtickets.co.nz.

Walliams will join esteemed British novelist David Mitchell, Guardian journalist Nick Davies, acclaimed Chinese author Xinran, award-winning nature writer Helen Macdonald, and New Zealand journalist Steve Braunias, for a series of WORD Christchurch evening events from 12—17 May, presented in association with the Auckland Writers Festival.

“We are extremely lucky to secure such a huge international star as David Walliams,” says WORD Christchurch Literary Director Rachael King. “This event cements our commitment to celebrating children’s literature, and we are predicting his show will sell out very quickly. All the Autumn Season authors are at the top of their field and we are thrilled to collaborate with the Auckland Writers Festival to keep the quality international literary events coming to Christchurch. With our Writers & Readers Festival a biennial event, and after the overwhelming success of last year’s festival, it is important to keep our audiences satisfied in the off-year, and they can look forward to many such events before August 2016.”

The full WORD Christchurch Autumn Season programme will be available at libraries, bookstores and cafes, or online atwordchristchurch.co.nz.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

David Walliams — comedian, actor, television celebrity and author — is the biggest UK children’s author to debut this century. His books include Mr Stink, Gangsta Granny, The Boy in the Dress, Billionaire Boy, Ratburger and Awful Auntie.

David Mitchell is the author of six novels, which have all received or been in the running for major literary awards, including Cloud Atlas andBlack Swan Green. Mitchell’s latest breathtaking multi-genre novel The Bone Clocks was called “recklessly ambitious” by the Guardian and was longlisted for the Man Booker.

Helen Macdonald’s memoir H is for Hawk, about her attempt to overcome grief by training a goshawk, has taken the literary world by storm, winning both the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction and the Costa Book of the Year Award, as well as appearing on nearly every ‘best books of 2014’ list.

Nick Davies’s book Hack Attack: How the truth caught up with Rupert Murdoch is a nail-biting account of an investigative journalist’s quest. When the Royal Editor of The News of the World was imprisoned phone-hacking, Davies was convinced there was more to the story and began a painstaking investigation that ultimately exposed a world of crime and cover-up, of fear and fervour — reaching all the way to the top.

Xinran has published several acclaimed books about China, including her seminal book about women's lives, The Good Women of China. Since then she has written a regular column for the Guardian and appeared frequently on radio and television. Her latest book is Buy Me the Sky: The remarkable truth of China’s one-child generations.

Steve Braunias’s Madmen: Inside the weirdest election campaign ever lit up the best-seller charts over summer, reprinting three times. Based on the diaries Braunias filed every day during the election for Metro magazine’s online site, Madmen is a surreal and comic account of the campaign. It’s political journalism, but not as we know it.

For more information please contact Rachael King, Literary Director, WORD Christchurch litdirector@wordchristchurch.co.nz

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