Māpua Community Library Literary Festival Covid 19 Update
It is with heavy hearts we have decided to postpone the literary festival. We know this is very disapointing but this is the reality of life under Covid-19.
However the good news is that we have re-scheduled the festival to be held from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th September 2022.
We would like to thank all of the wonderful authors and our sponsors for their continued support.
If you have purchased tickets we will contact you by email to discuss refunds.
It is with heavy hearts we have decided to postpone the literary festival. We know this is very disapointing but this is the reality of life under Covid-19.
However the good news is that we have re-scheduled the festival to be held from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th September 2022.
We would like to thank all of the wonderful authors and our sponsors for their continued support.
If you have purchased tickets we will contact you by email to discuss refunds.
Meet the Authors
Christine Leunens
Christine Leunens’ writing has earned international critical success with Caging Skies adapted into the award-winning film Jojo Rabbit. Christine has just completed a Franco-New Zealand novel set in our tumultuous 1980s |
David Young
David Young's interest in the nature-culture relationship and his work in environmental journalism exposed him to Maori freshwater traditions — upending his world view. His latest book is Wai Pasifika: indigenous ways, new climates in the Pacific. |
Greig Caigou
Greig's three books on hunting reflect his passion for wilderness preservation as does his time as a longtime NZ Hunter columnist, an outdoor instructor, Young Enterprise Trust presenter, and a wilderness leadership guide. |
Alexandra Tidswell
Former diplomat Alexandra Tidswell's award-winning debut novel Lewisville is based on the story of her ancestor Martha Grimm. It relates to one woman's escape from poverty in England and the challenges that follow. |
Jessica Le Bas
Jessica Le Bas has published poetry collections: Incognito and Walking to Africa winning the 2019 Sarah Broom Prize for Poetry. Her pre-Covid children’s novel Staying Home, was rereleased as Locked Down in 2021. |
Roger Lusby.
Children’s author, poet, balladeer, songwriter and musician, Roger invites you to his presentation on the interesting history of traditional nursery rhymes and his method of writing for children of all ages. |
Mark Raffills
A NZ Poetry Slam finalist, Mark Raffills has performed solo throughout NZ and Australia, with The Slam Poetry Show and the Nelson and NZ Fringe Festivals. His very relatable Thursday video poems are a Facebook hit. |
Rachel McAlpine
Rachel McAlpine has returned to poetry after many years away from the literary world. Fascinated by the anomalies of ageing she is “delighted not to be dead” and that's the main topic of her latest book, How To Be Old. |
Chris Stuart
For Reasons of Their Own, her debut novel, draws on her 20 years as an humanitarian worker, mainly in the Middle East. This gripping read is the first of a series featuring her lead character, DI Robbie Gray. |
Chris Potter
“As an admiring son I am excited - and humbled- to draw together in this book, My Beautiful Island, the pieces of my parents’ extraordinary lives.” |
Robert Jenkins
Growing up, storyteller Robert Jenkins visited endless worlds in both his imagination and reality while “on the run from adults”. His novel The Fell shows the world through a unique lens. How much is true? |
Gerard Hindmarsh
Gerard Hindmarsh is a Golden Bay-based freelance writer, author, columnist and radio broadcaster. His award-winning feature work has appeared in a variety of publications both here and overseas. |
Storytelling, Puppet theatre and Illustrators workshop
Birdlife Productions
Bridget & Roger Sanders present The Boy With Wings. This delightful puppet theatre celebrates the miraculous migration of Kuaka/Bar-tailed Godwits - daring us to dream and follow our hearts. For ages 5 – 95!
Ticket numbers limited to 50
Bridget & Roger Sanders present The Boy With Wings. This delightful puppet theatre celebrates the miraculous migration of Kuaka/Bar-tailed Godwits - daring us to dream and follow our hearts. For ages 5 – 95!
Ticket numbers limited to 50
Birdlife Productions
Bridget & Roger Sanders present their puppet show for early childhood up to 7 years and all those young-at-heart – puppetry, theatre, storytelling, music and song.
Ticket numbers limited to 50
Bridget & Roger Sanders present their puppet show for early childhood up to 7 years and all those young-at-heart – puppetry, theatre, storytelling, music and song.
Ticket numbers limited to 50
Mike Howell
Interested in science and the outdoors, retired teacher Mike has written and illustrated many of his books about animals and birds, reflecting his observation skills of small details and injecting a touch of humour. |
Story-tellers’ and illustrators’ workshop for children and for adults run by Mike Howell and Jocelyn Rae.
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Jocelyn Rae
Using her stories Spirits of the Bush, a series of magical books for young children, longtime environmental advocate Jocelyn Rae will show our tamariki how to help rescue our endangered native birds and forests. Ticket numbers limited to 50 |
Introducing the Conversationalist.
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Kerry Sunderland
(Christine Leunens) Author, creative writing teacher, Coordinator of Pukapuka talks. Alistair Munro
(Greig Caigou) Avid reader, facilitator and expat Pacific Islander. |
Dr Charlotte Šunde
(David Young) is a social scientist at Cawthron Institute. Her research into our cultural and environmental relationships with New Zealand’s lakes was published as a rich repository of digital stories - www.lakestoriesnz.org. |
Jacquetta Bell
(Alexandra Tidswell) Jacquetta is a retired event publicist, and media consultant. She founded the Nelson Readers and Writers’ festival. Greig Caigou
(Gerard Hindmarsh). Greig’s 3 books reflect his passion for wilderness preservation. |
Judy Finn
(Robert Jenkins): Former journalist Judy is co-owner of Neudorf Vineyards. Reads widely. Can’t remember titles but no problem with subject matter. Liz Price
(Chris Stuart): Long-term Counsellor, teacher of Ethics at NMIT. Friends describe her love of reading as a “river of books that flows through her home to be generously shared with others.” |
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Learn more about the Authors
Christine Leunens’ debut novel, Primordial Soup, published in the UK in 1999, was a critical success, receiving praise in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and Publishers Weekly.
Her second novel, Caging Skies has become an international bestseller, translated into over twenty languages, and the French translation was nominated for the Prix Médicis Étranger.
A Can of Sunshine was selected as 'Best Books of the Year 2013' in English worldwide by the NZ Herald.
Over time, Caging Skies was adapted to stage and film. The play adaptation, written by Desirée Gezentzvey and directed by Andrew Foster, had its world premiere at the Circa Theatre, Wellington in 2017. Taika Waititi’s film adaptation, Jojo Rabbit, was nominated in 2020 for two Golden Globes, six Baftas, and six Oscars, including Best Film. It won the WGA Award, the BAFTA Award as well as the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won the Humanitas Prize for writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning and freedom. Both the film and the book were nominated for the USC Scripter Award 2020 and won AFI Awards for their contribution to America's Cultural
Legacy. Christine has just completed a Franco-New Zealand novel set in the often-tumultuous 1908s era of the anti-nuclear movement, Springbok protests and the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
Her second novel, Caging Skies has become an international bestseller, translated into over twenty languages, and the French translation was nominated for the Prix Médicis Étranger.
A Can of Sunshine was selected as 'Best Books of the Year 2013' in English worldwide by the NZ Herald.
Over time, Caging Skies was adapted to stage and film. The play adaptation, written by Desirée Gezentzvey and directed by Andrew Foster, had its world premiere at the Circa Theatre, Wellington in 2017. Taika Waititi’s film adaptation, Jojo Rabbit, was nominated in 2020 for two Golden Globes, six Baftas, and six Oscars, including Best Film. It won the WGA Award, the BAFTA Award as well as the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won the Humanitas Prize for writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning and freedom. Both the film and the book were nominated for the USC Scripter Award 2020 and won AFI Awards for their contribution to America's Cultural
Legacy. Christine has just completed a Franco-New Zealand novel set in the often-tumultuous 1908s era of the anti-nuclear movement, Springbok protests and the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
David Young began his environmental writing as a journalist in the South Island. From the late 1960s his career coincided with the emergence of the modern conservation movement in New Zealand: Save Manapouri Campaign, the dam debates on the Clutha River, the growing loss of native forests and emerging tourism industry. He worked for 12 years at The New Zealand Listener where in the 1980s his interest in the nature-culture relationship culminated in his first book, Faces of the River. He was also managing editor of the environmental resource management monthly, Terra Nova.
As a freelancer he continued to explore the theme of people, land/history and the environment in television documentaries, reports, reviews and 10 books, including a novel, Coast. His titles include Faces of the River (later republished as Rivers: our shared legacy) and Woven by Water: histories from the Whanganui River, undertaken at the invitation of kaumatua of his natal river with the support of a Stout Research Fellowship. Our Islands, Our Selves: a history of conservation in New Zealand was a Ministry for Culture & Heritage project.
The Creative New Zealand-Fulbright Pacific Writers' residency at the Institute of Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii, enabled the beginning of a study of the customary use of water of two similar, but differing arms of Polynesia. Over more than a decade, it expanded into a more trans-Pacific work. This is Wai Pasifika: Iindigenous ways in a changing climate, from Otago University Press later this year. His current project is a centennial history of the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society, written from the clifftop property in Tasman he, and his artist wife Scilla have natured and nurtured for more than 20 years.
As a freelancer he continued to explore the theme of people, land/history and the environment in television documentaries, reports, reviews and 10 books, including a novel, Coast. His titles include Faces of the River (later republished as Rivers: our shared legacy) and Woven by Water: histories from the Whanganui River, undertaken at the invitation of kaumatua of his natal river with the support of a Stout Research Fellowship. Our Islands, Our Selves: a history of conservation in New Zealand was a Ministry for Culture & Heritage project.
The Creative New Zealand-Fulbright Pacific Writers' residency at the Institute of Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii, enabled the beginning of a study of the customary use of water of two similar, but differing arms of Polynesia. Over more than a decade, it expanded into a more trans-Pacific work. This is Wai Pasifika: Iindigenous ways in a changing climate, from Otago University Press later this year. His current project is a centennial history of the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society, written from the clifftop property in Tasman he, and his artist wife Scilla have natured and nurtured for more than 20 years.
Greig Caigou.At 65 years young, Greig reckons he has packed plenty of living into his time thus far and has discovered a new and enjoyable calling as Pastor at the local Tasman Church . . . a change that he had never suspected would be his at this stage in his life.
The author of three books reflecting his passion for preservation of the wilderness and hunter ethics, his background is as an outdoor instructor, and he has worked in outdoor industries in varying capacities since leaving teaching way back in 1984.
Greig recently said goodbye to a long stint as leadership facilitator at Outward Bound NZ but has also been a long-time presenter for the Young Enterprise Trust throughout NZ.He volunteers as guide for a 40-day wilderness-based leadership programme, is an author, a columnist for NZ Wilderness magazine and, for 10 years, for the award-winning NZ Hunter magazine (as hunter-philosopher). Greig abides by a strong hunter's creed; a set of beliefs and principles which at their core demands respect for our wild places and the creatures living there. Greig lives in Tasman with Marijke and enjoys this wonderful district . . . and yes, he is the guy you will see regularly swimming the channel from the Mapua wharf.
The author of three books reflecting his passion for preservation of the wilderness and hunter ethics, his background is as an outdoor instructor, and he has worked in outdoor industries in varying capacities since leaving teaching way back in 1984.
Greig recently said goodbye to a long stint as leadership facilitator at Outward Bound NZ but has also been a long-time presenter for the Young Enterprise Trust throughout NZ.He volunteers as guide for a 40-day wilderness-based leadership programme, is an author, a columnist for NZ Wilderness magazine and, for 10 years, for the award-winning NZ Hunter magazine (as hunter-philosopher). Greig abides by a strong hunter's creed; a set of beliefs and principles which at their core demands respect for our wild places and the creatures living there. Greig lives in Tasman with Marijke and enjoys this wonderful district . . . and yes, he is the guy you will see regularly swimming the channel from the Mapua wharf.
Alexandra Tidswell. Former diplomat Alexandra Tidswell is a seventh generation New Zealander with an LLB and a BA in Maori from Otago University. Alexandra has always been interested in the stories of early New Zealanders and how they’ve shaped our culture. She is a partner in Kia Maia Bicultural Communication, which produces bicultural interactive training and resources. Lewisville is her first novel and follows her great-great-great-grandmother on a journey from Britain in the 1800s, abandoning hardship for a world with more promise.
Alexandra sees both Lewisville and Tui, the novel she is currently writing, as reanimating the past; more specifically telling stories which help us make sense of Aotearoa’s complex colonial mythology. “I’m interested in how you can, in a sense, time travel with historical fiction, feeling the emotions of people who lived in the past in a way that informs your understanding of the present day.” But there are many challenges in writing about New Zealand’s past in a way that does justice to the complexity of the various perspectives. Alexandra lives in Nelson with her husband and two children.
Alexandra sees both Lewisville and Tui, the novel she is currently writing, as reanimating the past; more specifically telling stories which help us make sense of Aotearoa’s complex colonial mythology. “I’m interested in how you can, in a sense, time travel with historical fiction, feeling the emotions of people who lived in the past in a way that informs your understanding of the present day.” But there are many challenges in writing about New Zealand’s past in a way that does justice to the complexity of the various perspectives. Alexandra lives in Nelson with her husband and two children.
Jessica Le Bas is an award-winning poet and author who divides her time between Nelson, New Zealand and Rarotonga. As well as being mother to seven children, she has variously worked for the United Nations, as a private secretary to a government minister, as a truck driver, a restaurant manager, and a high school teacher. Her poems have been published in literary journals and collected in books. Her first poetry collection, Incognito, won the Best First Book of Poetry Award at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. A second collection, Walking to Africa, which explored adolescent mental illness was released in 2009 and was a finalist in the 2010 Ashton Wylie Book Awards.
In 2010 the novel Staying Home, her first work for children, was published under the pseudonym Jesse O. It was researched and written after the outbreak of H1N1 swine flu, imagining a (at that time hypothetical) situation of New Zealand in lock down and won a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction Award in 2011. This imagined influenza pandemic scenario became reality in 2020, with the outbreak of Covid-19. Taking on a new relevance the novel re-released in 2021, as Locked Down, with illustrations by Toby Morris. In 2019, Jessica Le Bas won the prestigious Sarah Broom Poetry Prize for a sequence of poems described by the judge, Toronto Poet Laureate Anne Michaels, as ‘alive with detail acutely observed’.
In 2010 the novel Staying Home, her first work for children, was published under the pseudonym Jesse O. It was researched and written after the outbreak of H1N1 swine flu, imagining a (at that time hypothetical) situation of New Zealand in lock down and won a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction Award in 2011. This imagined influenza pandemic scenario became reality in 2020, with the outbreak of Covid-19. Taking on a new relevance the novel re-released in 2021, as Locked Down, with illustrations by Toby Morris. In 2019, Jessica Le Bas won the prestigious Sarah Broom Poetry Prize for a sequence of poems described by the judge, Toronto Poet Laureate Anne Michaels, as ‘alive with detail acutely observed’.
Roger Lusby; children’s author, poet, balladeer, songwriter and musician. Roger Lusby was born in Central Otago and spent most of his life as a mechanic. In 1969 he spent a year in Antarctica, maintaining specialised machines at Scott Base. The following three years were spent travelling overseas, including working on Rolls Royce motor cars in the UK. He returned to New Zealand in the 70s to start a family and a motor repair business, maintaining a lifelong interest in music. Roger began writing in the 80’s, gaining national awards for children’s songs and creating the school song writing programme, Sing Out Kiwi. His research into nursery rhymes and their history led to recognition of the importance of rhythm and rhyme in children’s development and his interest in song and story creation with a mix of historic and current genres.
In 1994, he changed career and became the Director of Creative Music at the NZ College of Early Childhood Education in Christchurch, a position he held for twenty years, training student teachers to create songs and sing with children.
Roger has published several children’s books with downloadable song attachments, as well as a book of poetry and ballads for adults. He has his own recording studio in which he has created several albums of original songs, featuring his love of our country and people. His album, “Magical Places”, was runner-up in the national APRA Best Children’s Music Awards. He has featured in Folk and Bush Poetry Festivals in Alaska, Australia and New Zealand.
Now a grandfather, living in Appleby with his wife Deirdre, he invites you to his presentation on the interesting history of traditional nursery rhymes and his method of writing for children of all ages.
In 1994, he changed career and became the Director of Creative Music at the NZ College of Early Childhood Education in Christchurch, a position he held for twenty years, training student teachers to create songs and sing with children.
Roger has published several children’s books with downloadable song attachments, as well as a book of poetry and ballads for adults. He has his own recording studio in which he has created several albums of original songs, featuring his love of our country and people. His album, “Magical Places”, was runner-up in the national APRA Best Children’s Music Awards. He has featured in Folk and Bush Poetry Festivals in Alaska, Australia and New Zealand.
Now a grandfather, living in Appleby with his wife Deirdre, he invites you to his presentation on the interesting history of traditional nursery rhymes and his method of writing for children of all ages.
Mark Raffills. …wearing three hearts on his sleeve, handling his damning like Little John’s staff, a bent bough from the strongest tree, consumed by the fire of what it means to be free…
So goes a couple of lines from Golden Bay poet Mark Raffills’ poem Hallelujah. Some years ago, Nelson Mail reviewer Matt Bowler wrote of Raffills: “The live poet is obvious; the words have both a lyrical and rhythmic quality. There is a depth to the poetry but at the same time, its heart is on its sleeve.” “It’s what I do pretty much,” nods Raffills in agreement; “wear my heart on my sleeve, hang my poems and stories out for all to see; tell them raw, so to speak. Many of them come under the genre of ‘praise poems’ I believe.” A finalist in the NZ Poetry Slam 2011 and 2015, Mark Raffills has shared the stage with the likes of the late Hone Tu Whare and Rachel Bush as well as David Eggleton. He has performed at venues throughout NZ, as well as a couple in Australia, either solo or with the bluegrass/folk/blues-based Dirt Floor Alliance. As well as regular solo gigs around the country, Raffills has performed a few shows with American slam champions Carrie Rudzinski and Ken Arkind under the banner The Slam Poetry Show. He has performed Mark Twain’s War Prayer as part of both the Nelson and NZ Fringe Festivals. A couple of self-published collections of poems (The cornfield & Other Poems; Loved, mis-loved and loved again) and a daily Twitter poem all serve to keep the words alive as does helping co-ordinate both Nelson and Golden Bay Live Poets groups over the last 20 years or so.
In the past 12 months he has had more than 40,000 views of his weekly Facebook Thursday video poems (https://www.facebook.com/mark.raffills).
So goes a couple of lines from Golden Bay poet Mark Raffills’ poem Hallelujah. Some years ago, Nelson Mail reviewer Matt Bowler wrote of Raffills: “The live poet is obvious; the words have both a lyrical and rhythmic quality. There is a depth to the poetry but at the same time, its heart is on its sleeve.” “It’s what I do pretty much,” nods Raffills in agreement; “wear my heart on my sleeve, hang my poems and stories out for all to see; tell them raw, so to speak. Many of them come under the genre of ‘praise poems’ I believe.” A finalist in the NZ Poetry Slam 2011 and 2015, Mark Raffills has shared the stage with the likes of the late Hone Tu Whare and Rachel Bush as well as David Eggleton. He has performed at venues throughout NZ, as well as a couple in Australia, either solo or with the bluegrass/folk/blues-based Dirt Floor Alliance. As well as regular solo gigs around the country, Raffills has performed a few shows with American slam champions Carrie Rudzinski and Ken Arkind under the banner The Slam Poetry Show. He has performed Mark Twain’s War Prayer as part of both the Nelson and NZ Fringe Festivals. A couple of self-published collections of poems (The cornfield & Other Poems; Loved, mis-loved and loved again) and a daily Twitter poem all serve to keep the words alive as does helping co-ordinate both Nelson and Golden Bay Live Poets groups over the last 20 years or so.
In the past 12 months he has had more than 40,000 views of his weekly Facebook Thursday video poems (https://www.facebook.com/mark.raffills).
Rachel McAlpine was born in 1940, in Fairlie, where she and her five sisters had the sort of idyllic childhood that is pretty rare outside of Mapua. She later lived in Canterbury, Geneva, Masterton, Taranaki, Puponga, Kyoto, Paekakariki and Wellington. Rachel's first eight poetry collections were published between 1975 and 1990, marking her as a "strident feminist." She has also written novels, plays, and non-fiction. Residencies in Sydney, Lavigny (Switzerland) and Seoul became the highlights of her writing life.
In 1995 she met the internet and apparently wrote the first book in the world about writing for the web. For the next 20 years she explored communication in the ever-changing world of IT and trained more than 5,000 people in the art and craft of managing digital content. Rachel has now returned to poetry after many years away from the literary world. Fascinated by the anomalies of ageing she is “delighted not to be dead” and that is the main topic of her latest book, "How to Be Old."
Check out Rachel's blog and podcast on www.WriteIntoLife.com.
In 1995 she met the internet and apparently wrote the first book in the world about writing for the web. For the next 20 years she explored communication in the ever-changing world of IT and trained more than 5,000 people in the art and craft of managing digital content. Rachel has now returned to poetry after many years away from the literary world. Fascinated by the anomalies of ageing she is “delighted not to be dead” and that is the main topic of her latest book, "How to Be Old."
Check out Rachel's blog and podcast on www.WriteIntoLife.com.
Chris Stuart. I am an adventurous, resolute yet flawed woman of substance. For nearly twenty years I was a humanitarian worker with Red Cross, Oxfam and the UN in war zones and disasters, mainly in the Middle East. I have witnessed the best and worst of humanity and deeply admire the strength and resilience of people who endure and thrive despite the most harrowing of circumstances.
Originally, this novel was written as an autobiography but turning it into fiction has allowed me to write more honestly and critically without legal repercussions and the use of a corpse has added a complex richness to the narrative and avoided the story sounding didactic. Although this is my debut novel, it is the first of a series featuring DI Robbie Gray. I am the former winner of the Elyne Mitchell rural writing award 2016 and a judge for two national writing competitions in Australia and New Zealand. I have set up a crime writing group where I live in Nelson called “Life Sentence.” I am active in the writing scene and a member of the NZ Society of Authors, Sisters of Crime Melbourne, Mystery Writers UK and learning all the time. My writing is influenced by Charles Dickens and Elizabeth George and PD James and I liken my lead character to the flawed Rebus of Ian Rankin and Jane Tennyson.
Originally, this novel was written as an autobiography but turning it into fiction has allowed me to write more honestly and critically without legal repercussions and the use of a corpse has added a complex richness to the narrative and avoided the story sounding didactic. Although this is my debut novel, it is the first of a series featuring DI Robbie Gray. I am the former winner of the Elyne Mitchell rural writing award 2016 and a judge for two national writing competitions in Australia and New Zealand. I have set up a crime writing group where I live in Nelson called “Life Sentence.” I am active in the writing scene and a member of the NZ Society of Authors, Sisters of Crime Melbourne, Mystery Writers UK and learning all the time. My writing is influenced by Charles Dickens and Elizabeth George and PD James and I liken my lead character to the flawed Rebus of Ian Rankin and Jane Tennyson.
Chris Potter was born in Hong Kong only three months before the Japanese bombed and invaded the then British colony on 8th December 1941, the same time they bombed Pearl Harbour. His father was killed in action on Christmas Day. For much of the first 4 years of his life Chris and his mother, Norah, were imprisoned in Hong Kong’s Stanley Internment Camp witnessing and experiencing grief and unremitting suffering. After the Japanese surrender, Norah and Chris were repatriated to England and Norah spent 2 years in post-war Germany working to reopen German newspapers in accordance with strict conditions imposed by the Allies. Norah and Chris then immigrated to New Zealand where Norah rebuilt, with her customary strength and resilience, a life for them both in a country which they could at last call home. Norah, carrying the memories and lessons she had absorbed in Hong Kong and Germany became engaged, in New Zealand, with organisations which shared her opposition to nationalism and racism and supported the promotion of international cooperation and women’s rights.
It wasn’t until the death of Norah in the late 1990’s that Chris found her letters and diaries and learnt of the early part of her life journey – a young single woman leaving England in the 1930’s to take up a professional position in Hong Kong, living the expat lifestyle, discovering love and marrying John Potter, a brilliant young architect, in late 1939.
Chris Potter will be speaking about his book and the places it has taken him
It wasn’t until the death of Norah in the late 1990’s that Chris found her letters and diaries and learnt of the early part of her life journey – a young single woman leaving England in the 1930’s to take up a professional position in Hong Kong, living the expat lifestyle, discovering love and marrying John Potter, a brilliant young architect, in late 1939.
Chris Potter will be speaking about his book and the places it has taken him
Robert Jenkins is a writer of fiction and a storyteller.
Born and raised in Walthamstow, East London, Robert was a primary-school teacher from 1978 till 1988. He was drawn to ‘alternative community’ in his twenties, and it was then that he first visited Rainbow Valley Community in Golden Bay, New Zealand, where he now lives. Robert has questioned ‘progress’ and industrial society since he was nine or ten. Forever on the run from adults he hid in London’s libraries and museums, art galleries, theatres, and markets. He raided libraries in order to read books every day and discovered endless worlds to visit and people with whom to dwell.
He claims that running wild was his heritage but he also wrote plays, poetry, novels and short stories. With his family he travelled the world, living and working with challenging and colourful people on the 'wrong side' of society.
Robert's debut novel The Fell draws on those experiences with his lead character seeing the world in a unique way while in his own version of reality. Robert's second offering is a sequel to The Fell.
Born and raised in Walthamstow, East London, Robert was a primary-school teacher from 1978 till 1988. He was drawn to ‘alternative community’ in his twenties, and it was then that he first visited Rainbow Valley Community in Golden Bay, New Zealand, where he now lives. Robert has questioned ‘progress’ and industrial society since he was nine or ten. Forever on the run from adults he hid in London’s libraries and museums, art galleries, theatres, and markets. He raided libraries in order to read books every day and discovered endless worlds to visit and people with whom to dwell.
He claims that running wild was his heritage but he also wrote plays, poetry, novels and short stories. With his family he travelled the world, living and working with challenging and colourful people on the 'wrong side' of society.
Robert's debut novel The Fell draws on those experiences with his lead character seeing the world in a unique way while in his own version of reality. Robert's second offering is a sequel to The Fell.
Gerard Hindmarsh.Born in 1957 in Wellington, New Zealand, Gerard Hindmarsh trained first as a cartographer with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) before shifting to Golden Bay in 1976. Long haul truck driving, fertiliser spreading, forestry, building houses and setting up the Village Theatre in Takaka all preceded his move into journalism in 1991.
His award-winning travel work has appeared in a variety of publications both in New Zealand and overseas, and he served for many years as National Radio’s Asian correspondent on Kim Hill’s Nine to Noon show. Around 2000, his focus moved more towards the Pacific, and he undertook numerous contracts writing up development projects for UNESCO’s Apia Office – including Artists in Development (Vanuatu) and a report on the Banaban people of Rabi Island in Northern Fiji. Currently he divides his time between writing freelance articles for a variety of magazines and newspapers, mainly in the feature and tourism field, along with working on book projects with historical and social themes. Current publications he writes for on an ongoing basis include NZ Listener, Kia Ora (Air NZ inflight magazine, The Press (Christchurch), The Dominion (Wellington), Nelson Mail newspaper, Wild Tomato monthly magazine (Nelson), North & South, and Tourism Business. He still travels extensively around New Zealand collecting stories, and updating guidebooks to NZ, including Fodors and the Eyewitness Travel Guide. Regular gigs include his one hour long ‘Outsiders’ radio show every Sunday night on Graeme Hill’s Weekend Variety Wireless show on Radio Live, and a fortnightly column for Fairfax newspapers/Digital Stuff called Out West. Gerard has five adult children and lives at Tukurua in Golden Bay with his wife, artist and food writer Melanie Walker.
His award-winning travel work has appeared in a variety of publications both in New Zealand and overseas, and he served for many years as National Radio’s Asian correspondent on Kim Hill’s Nine to Noon show. Around 2000, his focus moved more towards the Pacific, and he undertook numerous contracts writing up development projects for UNESCO’s Apia Office – including Artists in Development (Vanuatu) and a report on the Banaban people of Rabi Island in Northern Fiji. Currently he divides his time between writing freelance articles for a variety of magazines and newspapers, mainly in the feature and tourism field, along with working on book projects with historical and social themes. Current publications he writes for on an ongoing basis include NZ Listener, Kia Ora (Air NZ inflight magazine, The Press (Christchurch), The Dominion (Wellington), Nelson Mail newspaper, Wild Tomato monthly magazine (Nelson), North & South, and Tourism Business. He still travels extensively around New Zealand collecting stories, and updating guidebooks to NZ, including Fodors and the Eyewitness Travel Guide. Regular gigs include his one hour long ‘Outsiders’ radio show every Sunday night on Graeme Hill’s Weekend Variety Wireless show on Radio Live, and a fortnightly column for Fairfax newspapers/Digital Stuff called Out West. Gerard has five adult children and lives at Tukurua in Golden Bay with his wife, artist and food writer Melanie Walker.
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