Escape Festival Tauranga announces three events ahead of programme release

New Zealand writer, poet and journalist Mohamed Hassan.

Tauranga's Escape Festival has given a sneak peak at its programme with the early announcement of three events.

The two-yearly festival brings writers and thinkers to Tauranga Moana for discussions, performances, and workshops and this year takes place from October 12 to 16.

The full programme will be announced on August 4 but today organisers announced three events including the Escape morning tea hosted by chef, author and broadcaster Nici Wickes, bestselling author, speaker, and Fulbright Scholar Abbas Nazari and award-winning New Zealand writer, poet and journalist Mohamed Hassan.

Nazari will recount his story at Escape - from living under the Taliban's brutal rule, to spending a month at sea, his family's search for safety, and building a new life in New Zealand. Nazari and his parents escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

Author, speaker, and Fulbright Scholar Abbas Nazari.

They were rescued by a Norwegian cargo boat, the Tampa, when the small fishing boat they were crossing the Indian Ocean in began to sink.

How to be a Bad Muslim is a non-fiction book from poet, Hassan, mapping the experience of being Muslim through a lens of identity, Islamophobia, surveillance, migration, and language.

He speaks about mental health, grief, and loss, while weaving memories of an Egyptian immigrant fighting.

Chef, author and broadcaster Nici Wickes. Photo / Paul Taylor

The Escape Morning Tea will this year be hosted by published cookbook author, entertainer, broadcaster, food stylist, recipe developer and food editor Nici Wickes who discuss her new cookbook A Quiet Kitchen with Sandra Simpson.

She will talk about living in a small coastal community, living alone and cooking for one, why she gave up alcohol and when it's okay to have pudding for breakfast.

Spaces to the morning tea are limited.

The full Escape programme will be announced on August 4 and tickets to the above are on sale from 10am today.

For further information and tickets, visit taurangafestival.co.nz.