Workshop: Masterclass Horror
Horror is more than just blood and guts. It is the slow creep of fear that makes you look over your shoulder at night; it is the feeling that something is watching you; it is not trusting the shadow on your bedroom wall. Good horror writing is the ability to turn an innocent noise in the attic into a terrifying wail from a paranormal plane.
Join acclaimed horror writer and winner of the 2023 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement Lee Murray as she teaches the craft of writing horror beyond cop-out frights and cheap thrills. Guided
by one of the most prolific horror authors in Aotearoa, you will learn how to write suspenseful, unique and genuinely hair-raising horror, and you can guarantee that your next story will be one that scares.
Supported by University of Auckland, Faculty of Arts.
https://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/horror-writing/1493846/
Panel: Homegrown Frights
What scares Aotearoa New Zealand? Is it the bloodthirsty, mutant livestock in Black Sheep or is it the rural, looming farmhouse in Butcherbird? Whatever it may be, there is no denying that our horror stories are something special.
Award-winning horror writer Tabatha Wood remarked that “New Zealand Horror offers a unique perspective that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world”.
We bring together Aotearoa’s foremost horror writers and filmmakers to dissect the style, stories and scares of our local horror scene. In conversation with horror academic Lorna Piatti-Farnell, join the multiple award-winning writers Lee Murray, Cassie Hart (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio) and Kathryn Burnett as they explore the rise of horror’s popularity, why 2023 was such a great year for horror in Aotearoa New Zealand, and where the genre might be going next.
https://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/homegrown-frights/1493856/
Panel: Beef: Writing Asian Female Rage
When the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series Beef screened in 2023, the story was overwhelmingly praised by the Asian diasporic community. But why did a series about two Asian American characters in a road-rage incident mark such a turning point in Asian representation? Writer and journalist Ian Kumamoto said it best when he wrote: “Finally, a show about angry Asians. Netflix’s Beef shatters so much of what we, as Asian Americans, were taught about holding in our rage.”
Nahyeon Lee joins Celeste Ng, Amanda Chong and Lee Murray to talk about writing rage as East Asian women. Spanning novels, poetry, horror writing and theatre making, together these women discuss the power of stories to deconstruct and confront harmful stereotypes and reflect on the past and future of representation.
https://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/beef-writing-asian-female-rage/1493915/