Staff

Marianne Hargreaves has managed WORD Christchurch (previously Christchurch Writers Festival) since 2009. She has been involved in arts and events for 20 years. She has held various positions within the Christchurch Arts Festival, the New Zealand International Arts Festival, the New Zealand Jazz and Blues Festival, the Friends of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and was Arts Advisor to the Arts Centre of Christchurch. She coordinated the advisory panel that chose the quotes for the Te Papa Ōtākaro / Avon River Precinct walkway.

Rachael King has been the programme director of WORD Christchurch since 2013, and has a long association with the New Zealand literary scene. Her father was historian Michael King, and her mother and stepfather worked in publishing. Rachael is the author of two books for adults, and one for children. The Sound of Butterflies (2006) was published in nine languages and won the Hubert Church Award for Best First Novel. Magpie Hall (2009) was long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC award, and Red Rocks, for junior readers, won the Esther Glen Medal, New Zealand’s longest-running literary award. In 2008 Rachael held the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence position at Canterbury University, which brought her to Christchurch for one year. She never left.