The New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week programme is finally out this Saturday.

The programme is free: you can get it from booksellers, cafes and libraries in the Wellington region, and from leading independent booksellers nationwide. (The Auckland outlets are Unity in the CBD, and Paradox in Devonport.)

Local festival highlights include the writers Patricia Grace, Albert Wendt and Witi Ihimaera on stage together in New Zealand for the first time. Other local sessions will spotlight the work of Martin Edmond, Vincent O’Sullivan and Dinah Hawken.

Two new international writers have been recently added to the guest list. Agit-prop novelist Tariq Ali is in demand as a commentator on Iraq, with two thousand people attending his keynote speech at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival last August. And Suchen Christine Lim joins the strong contingent of artists from Singapore appearing in the Festival. Lim’s novels focus on Singapore’s multi-ethnic history and cast a critical eye on its contemporary culture.

The Writers and Readers Week opens with a gala reading on the evening of 9 March, and continues over five days at the Embassy Theatre, Heineken Festival Club and other locations in central Wellington, the Kapiti Coast and Martinborough.

Tickets are listed on Ticketek, but do not actually go on sale until Saturday. Concession Passes are still available, and those who missed out on the limited tickets to Brunch with Clive James now have the chance to book for his three events at the Embassy Theatre.