Dive in the Deep End: Fionaccl’s top picks for WORD Christchurch

The WORD is out! The programme for WORD Christchurch went live last week and it is bursting with literary goodness.

This year's theme is Making Waves. I'm diving in at the deep end and swamped with choices. My first pick will definitely be this one:

All Things Romantasy

Romantasy is huge right now and judging from the size of the audience at Sarah Parker recently this could be a full house. Actor and presenter Lizzie Tollemache hosts again, bringing the cream of Kiwi fantasy writing to the stage in the form of AJ Lancaster, H.G. Parry, Stacey Broadbent, Ashley Andersen and Darianne Schramm, whose new book, 72 Hours of You, is out in August.

Booker Prize Winner Shehan Karunatilaka

A coup for WORD Festival, Shehan Karunatilaka has recently moved to Christchurch. He uses a satirical lens to view the tragic historical unrest of Sri Lanka in his Booker Prize Winner, The The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. He writes with a sharp wit: I missed him speak at Readers and Writers Akaroa in March; this time he's in conversation with Brannavan Gnanalingham. I feel lucky to have a second chance. Seven Moons is funny, imaginative and harrowing, putting killing for peace firmly in its box. Look out for a new book, The Man Behind the Curtain, in 2027. 

Working Class Heroes and Ghosts in the Machines: Technology & AI in Fiction

Pip Adam is a must-see for me. She brings a perspective to her work that really gets my brain firing. No stranger to WORD, this year she's teamed with Dominic Hoey for Working Class Heroes, then Tim Corballis for Ghosts in the Machines. Corballis' new book, Nova, about a sentient planet, is not unlike Adam's Audition, while Adam's new book, Kluge, is narrated by a fictional AI. 

Working Class Heroes appeals because, as the product of working-class grandparents, I love to see 'everyman' portrayed in all their gritty glory in my fiction. Hoey's1985 took me right back to 1980s spacies and abandoned cars in the front yard. A working class hero is something to be. Kluge, is out 13 August.

Wild and adventurous

Author of The Seasonwife, Saige England, chairs two events this year: The Fiordland Deer Recovery, talking with Peta Carey, author of The Hollows Boys; and Adventurous Women, in conversation with Julia Bradshaw, author of Digging Deep, and Hazel Phillips, author of Great Hearts: First Ladies of Aoraki Mount Cook. I've read some thrilling fiction this year about women mountaineers, and I'm keen for an armchair adventure at this one. 

Zines NZ: Bryce Galloway

Another event close to my heart is Zines NZ with Bryce Galloway and Brannavan Ganalingham. Bryce has just released Zines NZ, which chronicles the rise of Zines as a form of art and self-expression in Aotearoa, Zines. You can also find his Zines in our Zine Collection. Before going into the talk, I'm keen to hang with Zine makers at Zinefest, and maybe grab myself some zines for my collection. Zinefest runs all day at Christchurch Art Gallery. 

And more...

There are so many more talks to tempt: Stakes, with Noelle McCarthy and Claire Mabey, Anything Could Happen with Grant Robertson and Philip Matthews, Secret Art Powers with Jo Randerson, and a host of lyricists: Dave Dobbyn, Jon Toogood and Sonic Tonic, bringing wordsmiths and sound creators together.

Drowning in books is my idea of heaven.  If you're like me, livestreaming could be your friend.

Find out more

• Paper copies of the festival programme are in libraries, so grab a copy or check it out online.
• Visit our WORD Christchurch 2026 page
• WORD Christchurch's website