Going West story online for everyone, forever

One of Aotearoa’s most important literary festivals has opened its archives to the public, with the Going West Writers Festival’s 30-year history now discoverable online through Auckland Libraries’ heritage collections database, Kura.

Launched in Going West’s 30th year, the archive brings together hundreds of audio recordings, and thousands of photographs and accompanying archives, making three decades of literary and cultural history searchable for readers, researchers, former audiences and future generations.

L-R David Steemson, Maurice Gee, Marilyn Duckworth, Maurice Shadbolt in the back of the Going West train, Glen Eden, 1997. Photo Gil Hanly / Going West / Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. Auckland Libraries ID NZMS-2475-1997-P150

Going West Chair Naomi McCleary, who co-founded the festival with Programme Director Murray Gray, says the archive is a fitting way to mark the milestone.

“This is the perfect birthday present. Going West is much more than a festival — it’s a thriving and diverse community of literature and the arts. To see decades of kōrero, performance, discussion and memory gathered into one discoverable archive that will be available forever is very special.”

Audience at Going West, 2017, in Waitākere City Council Chambers. Photo Liz March / Going West Writers Festival / Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. Auckland Libraries ID NZMS-2475-2017-P008

The collection has been arranged and described by James Littlewood, a former director of Going West, who worked through a vast body of material spanning sound recordings, photographs, documents and festival records.

“At last count, there are 564 separate audio recordings, including discussions, performances and presentations by close to a thousand literary artists,” says Littlewood. “If you were there in the room, you’ll recognise an extraordinary cultural moment. If you’re a researcher, you’ll find a rich repository of ideas from some of our greatest storytellers and thinkers. If you’re a book lover, you won’t want to leave.”

The thirtieth year for Going West is also a busy one. In addition to launching this new archive, the Going West Trust is also running new literary programmes in Shadbolt House, the Titirangi property where novelist Maurice Shadbolt lived and wrote. 

“As far as Shadbolt House goes, we’re interested in the archive not simply as something to preserve, but as something to activate. By bringing new writers and contemporary voices into dialogue with the archive, it creates a kind of call and response, where literary history continues to generate new work, new conversations and new possibilities.”

Dave Dobbyn, strolling by the Going West train stopped in a gravel yard beside the lunch venue, Waimauku Settler’s Lodge, 1999. NZMS-2475-1999-P105

The archive captures not only the main festival, but the wider world around it: the famous Going West train journeys, fringe events, poetry slams, Piha performances, films, theatre and Storyfest, the much-loved children’s day of word-based activities bringing thousands of young people to the Kelston Community Centre.

Across the collection are appearances by many of Aotearoa’s best-known writers, thinkers and performers, including Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, Maurice Gee, Sam Hunt, Tusiata Avia, Michael King, Marilyn Waring, Witi Ihimaera, Allen Curnow, Nigel Cox, Bill Manhire, Roseanne Liang, Catherine Chidgey and Chris Tse, among many others.     

Auckland Council’s Head of Libraries and Learning Services, Catherine Leonard sees immense value in archives built on community partnerships such as this one. 

“Our heritage collections teams past and present have invested time and care in the co-management of this treasury of literary voices, and we are thrilled to be able to make the collection more discoverable for researchers in this 30th year of Going West Trust. We know this collection will serve future writers and readers well”.      

Going West extends its thanks to Auckland Libraries for its partnership on the project, as well as to the Auckland Libraries Heritage Trust and the Lotteries Environment & Heritage fund that helped make this work possible.

To explore the collection, search “Going West Writers Festival” on Kura. You can browse the audio collection, or search it by keyword or media type. Most audio recordings have photography attached, and additional photography and ephemera are still being processed. To access an audio file, use the contact form on any listing page to send a request to Auckland Libraries who will reply in due course with a listening link. Use the contact form on any page to enquire about photography or ephemera.