Panels/Talks
Auckland Writers Festival Opening Gala (SOLD OUT)
A triumphant return to the Aotea stage for this most-loved Festival event, which signifies the start of three full days of public programming. Surprise and delight will ensue as eight terrific writers take the stage to tell a true, no script- no- prop, personal story using ‘stranger than fiction’ as a prompt.
This year’s champions include poet and comms queen Kate Camp, current Poet Laureate David Eggleton, Iranian-NZ filmmaker and essayist Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, literary legend Witi Ihimaera, Australian literary prize-winner Laura Jean McKay, comedian and author Tom Sainsbury and poet Aigagalefili Fepulea’i Tapua’i.
French-style photographer and influencer Garance Doré will be making an appearance via a pre-recorded segment.
Going West Writers Festival Panel
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman
How does our view of the world change as we age? Does the reality ever meet our dreams? In an hour of discussion and readings, authors Charlotte Grimshaw (The Mirror Book), Lana Lopesi (False Divides), Alison Jones (This Pākehā Life: An Unsettled Memoir) and Ghazaleh Golbaksh (The Girl from Revolution Road), interrogate their lives as young woman. Session facilitated by Amy McDaid.
The Girl from Revolution Road at VERB Wellington
Ghazaleh Golbakhsh’s essays share episodes from her life growing up in New Zealand as a young Iranian immigrant. From an early life in war-torn Iran to encountering racism in a new country, Ghazaleh gives us stories full of warmth and humour, and of trauma and fear, too. Ghazaleh speaks with Mohamed Hassan. Proudly supported by New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO.
The Girl From Revolution Road - Auckland Writers Festival (SOLD OUT)
The first essay of filmmaker Ghazaleh Golbakhsh’s collection, The Girl From Revolution Road, transports readers to her childhood in Iran and an illicit party where family and friends are drinking and dancing to the Bee Gees before being swooped upon by armed police, detained and, for her father, sentenced to 60 lashes. It’s a collection juxtaposing the riches and challenges of Iranian life alongside poignant observations of resettlement in New Zealand. Infused with a gentle humour Golbakhsh provides a fresh perspective on being torn between her immigrant roots and her desire to be like everybody else, and dispels the simplistic notion of “Iran bad, New Zealand good”. In a timely celebration and examination of the overlapping of two cultures, she speaks with Dan Salmon.
WORD Christchuch Festival
Finding a Place
We bring together two young first generation Iranian New Zealanders to tell their extraordinary stories.
Ghazaleh Golbakhsh and Golriz Ghahraman appear in conversation with Donna Miles-Mojab to discuss breaking barriers, the daily challenges of prejudice that shape the lives of women and minorities, and finding a place to belong.