14 July 2011

The Lake Taupo Arts Festival Trust today launched the first of their new ‘Erupt Events’, a series of Readers & Writers events entitled Great Lake Tales.

Four prominent and internationally recognised authors are coming to Taupō over consecutive weekends to share their work with locals and visitors, from Sunday 24 July to Sunday 14 August.

“We’re thrilled to launch Great Lakes Tales,” said Erupt Events General Manager, Kylie Hawker. “Often our Taupō residents are not able to attend Readers & Writers festivals in Auckland or other cities, so we’re bringing the authors here to Taupō.”

Travel writer and Columnist, Joe Bennett, is the first visiting author who will be in Taupo on Sunday 24 July.

The following weekend on Sunday 31 July, novelist Rachael King will join a panel discussion who will debate the merits of the novel.

The third author to visit is Dame Fiona Kidman, one of New Zealand’s literary legends, who will speak on Sunday 7 August.

Lastly, Sir Ray Avery, 2010 New Zealander of the Year will be in Taupō on Sunday 14 August to share his inspiring life story, as documented in his autobiography, Rebel with a Cause.

Each author will be hosted in a relaxed and intimate environment, in front the fire at Hilton Lake Taupō, from 3pm to 5pm each Sunday afternoon.

“This is a unique opportunity to hear celebrated authors talking first hand about their work,” said Ms Hawker. “Tickets are now on sale from Prices Bookshop. At only $45 including refreshments, and with limited numbers, we are expecting tickets to sell out fast!”

For more information including speaker biographies, visit www.eruptevents.co.nz or phone 07 376 0406.

Tickets: Tickets are available from Prices Bookshop (95 Tongariro St) and are $45 including a glass of Vidal wine on arrival and canapés.

Author Details

Sunday 24 July: Joe Bennett – Author & Columnist

Joe is an English-born travel writer and columnist who lives in Christchurch. He went to Cambridge University and then, for want of any better ideas, taught English in Spain, France, and Canada and from 1987, in New Zealand.

In 1998, Joe ran from the classroom to become a newspaper columnist. He has twice been voted columnist of the year at Qantas Media Awards and since leaving Cambridge has taught English in a variety of countries, including Canada and New Zealand.

Joe blasts every topic with the limpid comic prose which has led to his columns being syndicated throughout New Zealand and he has written a number of books, including his most recent travel work that he will share with us, “Hello Dubai”.

Joe will also be in-store at Prices Bookshop from 1.30pm to 2.30pm on Sunday 24 July to chat with fans and autograph books.

Sunday 31 July: Rachael King – Author & Editor

Rachael King was born in New Zealand in 1970 to a bookish family – her father Michael King (who died in 2004) was one of New Zealand’s most prominent authors, and her mother Ros Henry is a publisher.

After leaving school she embarked on a university education but was distracted along the way playing bass guitar in several rock bands and touring the country, and by a year spent travelling through Europe at the tender age of 21.

After finally gaining her Bachelor of Arts from Auckland University in 1994, she began working in radio, hosting an arts program on 95bFM and selling advertising, a career she continued through magazines, and which funded her growing passion for writing fiction.

Rachael completed a Masters in Creative Writing from the acclaimed International Institute of Modern Letters at Wellington’s Victoria University in 2001, after which she began work on The Sound of Butterflies, which was published in 2006. In 2007 it won the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Best First Novel.

In 2008 she was the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she currently lives with her husband and two sons. Magpie Hall was published in New Zealand in November 2009, and she has recently edited and introduced a collection of her father Michael King’s writings, called The Silence Beyond.

Rachael will also be in-store at Prices Bookshop from 1.30pm to 2.30pm on Sunday 31 July to chat with fans and autograph books.

Sunday 7 August: Dame Fiona Kidman – Author & Teacher

Fiona Kidman is a leading contemporary novelist, short story writer and poet. Much of her fiction is focused on how outsiders navigate their way in narrowly conformist society.

To date she has published over 20 books, including novels, poetry, non-fiction and a play and has worked as a librarian, producer and critic.

Fiona has won numerous awards, and she has been the recipient of fellowships, grants and other significant honours, as well as being a consistent advocate for New Zealand writers and literature.

She is the President of Honour for the New Zealand Book Council, and has been awarded an OBE and a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.

Her last novel, The Captive Wife, was runner up in the Montana Book Awards Deutz Medal for Fiction.

Fiona will be conducting a workshop for our local high school students at REAP on Monday 8 August.

Sunday 14 August: Sir Ray Avery – Author & Philanthropist

Ray Avery has been described as an inventor, humanitarian, philanthropist and a good, down-to-earth, Kiwi bloke.

Over the past thirty years, Ray has made a major contribution in the development of New Zealand’s Pharmaceutical industry.

Working throughout Africa and Asia and exposed to the raw and real shortcomings in healthcare, Ray was determined to use his knowledge to tackle big health issues endemic throughout the developing world at a very practical sustainable level.

In 2003, Ray founded Medicine Mondiale and he now helps millions of people in the third world using first world, state-of-the-art technology. He has be recognised with many honours including 2010 New Zealander of the Year, Blake Medal for outstanding leadership, and a Knighthood for services to philanthropy.

Ray shares his own heartbreaking childhood and inspirational story of one man’s determination to change the world in his candid and often laugh-out-loud funny memoir, Rebel with a Cause.

Ray will also be in-store at Prices Bookshop from 1.30pm to 2.30pm on Sunday 14 August to chat with fans and autograph his book.

ENDS

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