The 2020 Winter Series Streams live and free-to-view on the Festival’s YouTube and Facebook channels, 9am every Sunday morning 3 May - 26 July. It is then available as a video or podcast via our soundcloud, iTunes or our website.

Episode 11 features:

KOLOKESA U MĀHINA-TUAI (Aotearoa New Zealand) author and curator Kolokesa U Māhina-Tuai, is the founder of the cultural consultancy Lagi-Maama, and coedited the encyclopaedic three-century spanning Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania.

LEANNE SHAPTON (Canada) Leanne is a writer, artist, former Olympic swimming triallist, New York Times design editor, and publisher. She is the author of the award-winning Swimming Studies, co-author of Women in Clothes and her latest offering, Guestbook: Ghost Stories, uses artefacts – ephemera, photos, architectural plans, and her own watercolours in 33 tales of guests, ghosts and other lingering presences.

NEIL GAIMAN (England) The award-winning Neil Gaiman is author of over 30 acclaimed books and graphic novels for adults and children, including ‘merican Gods, The Sandman series, Coraline and The Graveyard Book The renowned storyteller’s work has been adapted for film, radio and television – including scripts for Doctor Who. Neil will be discussing his latest work, an illustrated edition of his highly acclaimed novel for adults, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

HOST: PAULA MORRIS (Aotearoa New Zealand) Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua) is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist. The 2019 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, she teaches creative writing at The University of Auckland, sits on the Māori Literature Trust and is the founder of the Academy of NZ Literature.

This series provides an opportunity to champion New Zealand and international books that were to feature at our cancelled May Festival, we encourage you to support writers and NZ publishers and booksellers by purchasing featured books. Order via our Festival bookseller.

The Festival thanks its presentation partner Auckland Live, as well as Copyright Licensing New Zealand and all our generous sponsors, funders, patrons and friends whose support has enabled us to continue our work during these extraordinary times.

Watch each new episode live at 9:00AM every Sunday, 3 May - 26 July.

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akwrfest
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AKwritersFESTIVAL