Storylines Festival June 2007

The Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children’s Writers and Illustrators once again brings more than 50 writers, illustrators and storytellers directly in touch with children and their families.
The 14th annual Storylines Festival, from 5-10 June this year, is a highlight of the New Zealand literary calendar. Fabulous books, their creators and a wide variety of performers entertain, educate and enthral thousands of children, family members, teachers and librarians, during the week-long festival.
International guests joining New Zealand children’s literary heroes for the festival are: Carnegie Medal winner (for his young adult novel Tamar) Mal Peet from the United Kingdom; and Australian Shaun Tan, celebrated creator of sophisticated picture books such as CBCA Honour Books The Red Tree and The Lost Thing, and, most recently, a wordless graphic novel about immigration, The Arrival.
Huge free family days will bring the excitement of books and reading alive in Puke Ariki in New Plymouth, the Wellington Town Hall, Kerikeri Primary School (for the first time) and the Aotea Centre, THE EDGE® in Auckland. Each venue will have readings, activities, performances, face painting – and the opportunity to meet the authors and illustrators. Themes include fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, picture books for young and old, and novels for juniors and young adults. Activities include everything from book making to calligraphy, puppet making to story writing and story telling.
Says festival manger Crissi Blair: ‘As well, there are story tours which take a dozen New Zealand authors, illustrators and storytellers into schools and early childhood centres throughout the Auckland region and in Whangarei and Kerikeri. We’ve lined up award-winning participants including Gavin Bishop, Vince Ford, David Elliot, Lorraine Orman and Moira Wairama (whose Joy Cowley Award-winning book The Puppet Box will be launched at Auckland Family Day), so we know the kids who are lucky enough to have a visit will be totally enthralled.
‘And in Auckland, in venues from Albany to Manurewa, we’re having workshops to foster writing and illustration skills, with experienced authors and illustrators sharing their professional skills.
‘As well as these student-focused activities, the Heritage Hotels Seminar Series hosts the festival’s two international guests, Shaun Tan and Mal Peet, in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, where they’ll entertain and inform adult children’s literature enthusiasts and professionals discussing the theme of Story is a Place. The seminar series sold out last year, and the same is expected this year for these highly acclaimed speakers.’
Storylines Festival is a once-a-year opportunity for children and their families to come face to face with the people who create the books they love. For more information about participating authors and illustrators and details about events, see www.storylines.org.nz or email festival@storylines.org.nz

End

For further information, images, or to arrange interviews with Storylines Festival participants contact:
Crissi Blair
Phone 09 836 1261, Mobile 021 163 2496
Email festival@storylines.org.nz


Additional Information

Schedule of dates and events
Tuesday 5 June Participants gathering
Wednesday 6 June Auckland seminar, preceded by welcome & cocktail party for sponsors, funders, participants and volunteers
Auckland Story Tour (2 vans) begins
Thursday 7 June Northland Story Tour (1 van) begins
Christchurch seminar
Friday 8 June Wellington seminar
Story Tours finish
Saturday 9 June Wellington Family Day
New Plymouth Family Day
Northland Family Day (Kerikeri)
Auckland workshops
Sunday 10 June Auckland Family Day
Kids’ Lit Quiz final

Participants (list correct as at 27 February 2007)
Auckland Free Family Day
Shaun Tan (author/illustrator)
Mal Peet (author)
Margaret Mahy (author)
Lorraine Orman (author)
Kelly Gardiner (author)
Maria Gill (author)
Bill Nagelkerke (author)
David Elliot (author/illustrator)
Paula Green (poet)
Daryl Crimp (author/illustrator)
Samer Hatem (illustrator)
Lamia Aziz (illustrator)
Gavin Bishop (author/illustrator)
Bruce Potter (illustrator)
Lindy Fisher (illustrator)
Miranda Harcourt (author)
Sandra Morris (illustrator)
Helen Bacon (illustrator/storyteller/puppeteer)
Moira Wairama (storyteller/author)
Tony Hopkins (storyteller)
Martin Baynton (author/illustrator)
Tessa Duder (author)
Zak Waipara (illustrator)
Vince Ford (author)
Tanya Batt (storyteller/author)
Star Fish (performers)
PERFORM (educational theatre group)

New Plymouth Free Family Day
Ruth Paul (author/illustrator)
Margaret Beames (author)
Katerina Mataira (author)
Janice Marriott (author)
Jill Marshall (author)
Ross Kinnaird (illustrator)
Sunset (illustrator)
Apirana Taylor (storyteller)


Wellington Free Family Day
Shaun Tan (author/illustrator)
Ben Galbraith (author/illustrator)
Ben Brown (author)
Helen Taylor (illustrator)
Miranda Harcourt (author)
Tessa Duder (author)
Fifi Colston (author/illustrator)
Gillian & Darryl Torckler (author/photographer)
PERFORM (educational theatre group)

Heritage Hotels Seminar Series
Mal Peet (UK author)
Shaun Tan (Australian author/illustrator)
Auckland Chair – Bill Nagelkerke
Christchurch Chair – Trevor Agnew
Wellington Chair – To be confirmed

Story Tour Auckland
Lorraine Orman (author)
Maria Gill (author)
Bill Nagelkerke (author)
David Elliot (author/illustrator)
Daryl Crimp (author/illustrator)
Gavin Bishop (author/illustrator)
Bruce Potter (illustrator)
Moira Wairama (storyteller/author)
Tony Hopkins (storyteller)
Helen Bacon (illustrator/storyteller/puppeteer)

Story Tour Northland & Kerikeri Family Day
Paula Green (poet)
Zak Waipara (illustrator)
Vince Ford (author)

Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand

The Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand is the charitable trust which supports and promotes reading, literacy and children’s literature in New Zealand. It was established and is supported by Storylines Children’s Literature Foundation, an organisation comprised of dedicated professionals in the fields of reading, publishing and literacy who work tirelessly, largely in a voluntary capacity, for children’s literature in New Zealand. (The Children’s Literature Foundation Inc was established in 2000 following the amalgamation of the Children’s Literature Association and the Children’s Book Foundation, both long-standing organisations that promoted literature to children and their families.)