Stephanie Johnson Holding the Line
Going West\u2019s Sir Graeme Douglas Orator in 2015 was writer Stephanie Johnson. Addressing the festival theme, Holding the Line, Stephanie delivered a hilarious and biting satire of neoliberalism in New Zealand, donning a wig to take on the parodic character of Amanda Tauiwi Reinhardt Carlton, the \u2018National Party Poet Laureate\u2019 (Tauiwi is a M\u0101ori word for non-M\u0101ori, used here by Johnson to poke a stick at well-heeled upper-class conservative white women).\n\nThe author of 16 books including The Writers\u2019 Festival, six plays and radio dramas and two books of poetry, Stephanie has appeared at Going West many times since the first festival in 1996.\n\nShe is the winner of multiple awards, fellowships and honours; in 2019 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature, as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours. Stephanie has taught English and creative writing at the University of Auckland. She is also a teaching fellow at the University of Waikato, and co-founded the Auckland Writers' Festival with Peter Wells, and served as creative director and trustee