Find events happening all around Hawke's Bay.
Back for our SIXTH year, the Hawke’s Bay Te Matau-a-Māui Poetry Slam 2024 is happening this October, as part of the Readers and Writers Festival. This is poetry at its most vital – live, loud, and irresistibly individual. Our bravest local poets will compete to pull on your heartstrings,...
Date: Thursday 17 October
Where: Hastings Community Arts Centre, Hastings, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Claire Baylis's debut bestseller Dice is a "harrowing and unforgettable" account of a sexual assault trial. Home Truths, the latest from 2023 Ngaio Marsh award-winner Charity Norman, grippingly portrays a family torn apart by lies. Lou Ward asks both authors why they're drawn to write about the...
Date: Friday 18 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Two Maori writers coming at the same subject from different points in time: one from a vividly recreated past, one from an unsettlingly imagined future. Join Dr Monty Soutar (ONZM, Ngati Porou, Ngati Awa, Nga Tai ki lamaki, Ngati Kahungunu) and Tihema Baker (Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Atiawa ki...
Date: Friday 18 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
There's murder afoot, but whoever's dunnit is no match for bookshop owners and fearless sleuths, Garth and Eloise. Catherine Robertson talks to Garth and Eloise - sorry, Gareth and Louise Ward - about their exceptionally entertaining collaborative debut novel, The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl...
Date: Saturday 19 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Meet two chefs who pour their love of family and culture into their food and serve us up cookbooks that are as much recipes for living fully as they are for eating well. Modern Chinese is the outstanding debut cookbook by Sam Low, winner of 2022 NZ Masterchef, and The Laden Table is the latest from...
Date: Saturday 19 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Our endless fascination with true crime is often more about how they dunnit than who. Our own queen of crime, Charity Norman, talks to Scott Bainbridge about the until-now untold story of a serial poisoner in his book The Trials of Nurse Kerr, and to pathologist, Cynric Temple-Camp about obscure...
Date: Saturday 19 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
History comes most alive when we experience it through the lens of individual people. Join Cristina Sanders (Okiwi Brown) in conversation with Kyle Mewburn, whose historical debut Sewing Moonlight illuminates a German immigrant's life in 1930s New Zealand, and Saige England who takes us back 100...
Date: Saturday 19 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
These three spellbinding novels for young readers capture the kind of magic that stays with us all our lives. Catherine Robertson talks to Rachael King, The Grimmelings, Shelley Burne-Field (Samoa, Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Rarua, Pakeha), Brave Kahu and the Porangi Magpie and Claire Mabey, The Raven's...
Date: Saturday 19 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Gavin Bishop (ONZM, Ngati Pukeko, Ngati Awa, Ngati Mahuta, Tainui) has long been one of our most beloved authors and illustrators of children's picture books. He has been shortlisted for more NZ book awards than any other author of any kind, and his legacy is immense. Gavin talks to children's...
Date: Sunday 20 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
The pressure to be connected to others, and to our family and culture, is felt from an early age. International bestseller, Stacy Gregg (Ngati Mahuta, Ngati Pukeko, Ngati Maru), returns to her roots with Nine Girls, an adventure for young readers set in the social upheaval of 1970s and '80s New...
Date: Sunday 20 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Being well is about more than physical health. It's also mental, emotional, spiritual and social. And it's not just individuals that can get sick, but also cultures and societies. Author and health sector advisor, Tihema Baker (Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Atiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngati Toa...
Date: Sunday 20 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Women writers are the dominant force in publishing, outperforming male authors overall in sales and readership. Women's fiction, romance in particular, makes billions annually. Bestselling romance writer, Kate O'Keeffe, talks with Danielle Hawkins (Take Two), Nicky Pellegrino (Marry Me in Italy)...
Date: Sunday 20 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
All writers, readers and book lovers are warmly invited to the launch of Mary-anne Scott's new novel The Mess of Our Lives. Please come and celebrate with a glass of wine at the grand finale of the Hawkes Bay Readers and Writer's Festival.
Mary-anne is from Havelock North and this, her seventh...
Date: Sunday 20 October
Where: Havelock North Function Centre, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne
Disclaimers and Copyright
While every endeavour has been taken by the Hastings District Council to ensure that the information on this website is
accurate and up to date, Hastings District Council shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of information on this website. Information contained has been assembled in good faith.
Some of the information available in this site is from the New Zealand Public domain and supplied by relevant
government agencies. Hastings District Council cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content.
Portions of the information and material on this site, including data, pages, documents, online
graphics and images are protected by copyright, unless specifically notified to the contrary. Externally sourced
information or material is copyright to the respective provider.
© Hastings District Council - https://www.hbreadersandwriters.co.nz/ / / [email protected]
