Tickets are available for
the first Ruapehu Writers Festival, to be held at Ōhakune from 17-20 March 2016.
The festival
is being co-organised by Victoria University of Wellington Associate Professor
and 2016 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, Dr Anna Jackson of Victoria’s
School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies. Other co-organisers are her
husband and Tuatua Café owner Simon Edmonds, and poet and publisher Helen
Rickerby.
Dr Jackson
says the festival will be a long weekend of readings, talks, panel discussions,
a workshop, a poetry slam and some more unusual events such as a literary
waterfall walk, a bike ride and a pony trek.
“We think
Ōhakune, in the centre of the North Island, is the perfect place to hold a
festival. While many people visit during winter for skiing, it’s at its most
beautiful in summer. We want to celebrate and learn about the place—its history
and people— and about the mountain, Ruapehu.”
Well-known
authors will discuss and read their work, and talk about their influences.
Elizabeth
Knox will give the Festival Lecture and Sue Orr will take a workshop on writing
fiction.
Editors from
four of New Zealand’s literary presses will talk about what they look for in
new writing.
There will be
sessions for children, and students from Ruapehu College and Taumarunui High
School will take part.
The festival
will bring together critically acclaimed writers with local connections, as
well as writers from around the country.
Over 30
established writers will be taking part and their profiles can be viewed on the
festival’s website.
Early-bird season
passes are $90 and
individual sessions are $14. Concessions are also available.
The festival
is being run on a not-for-profit basis, supplemented by a Boosted crowd funding
campaign to be launched in the new year.
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