‘Overwhelming’ feedback for Between The Lines – Central Hawke’s Bay Literary Festival

Finale authors at Between The Lines – Central Hawke’s Bay Literary Festival: Maria Williams and Shelley Burne-Field of Takapau, Sue McCauley of Dannevirke and Catherine Robertson of Havelock North/Wellington.

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The fourth Between The Lines – Central Hawke’s Bay Literary Festival has just finished and the feedback has been overwhelming. This year we had a southern Central Hawke’s Bay focus with events held in beautiful and interesting venues in Takapau, Waipawa and Ashley Clinton.

A 70-strong kapa haka group from Waipawa School set the tone for the festival by launching the first event, our Young Writers Workshop with Adele Broadbent.

Aotearoa’s authors of the future then learned some of the tricks of the trade and enthusiastically shared their work.

That evening Alan Duff, in conversation with local personality Mick Ormond, entertained us with Alan generously sharing stories about his life and speaking about his most recent book Conversations with my Country. He also enlightened us about the ramifications of publishing his best-known book, Once Were Warriors. The evening was certainly not without lively debate.

Friday we gathered by the fire at the lovely Woodland’s Homestead to be entertained by Megan Nicol Reed speaking with our own Anna Locker-Lampson. Megan kept the audience agog, exploring the impacts of secrets in small communities – a key theme in her top-selling book One of Those Mothers.

The Takapau Hall was transformed for a Long Italian Lunch with the wonderfully frank and amusing Nicky Pellegrino and Charity Norman on Saturday where Nicky talked about her new book PS Come to Italy … a real treat.

As always our local showcase was a fantastic finale to the festival. Writers Shelley Burne-Field, Catherine Robertson and Sue McCauley, at different points in their careers, kept the audience entertained with their musings on racism, romance, ageing, writing and the writing process and being published. Singer/songwriter Maria Williams beautifully shared her wisdom on living simply. A wonderfully diverse group that complemented each other beautifully.

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors and supporters, authors and audiences who have made Between the Lines 2023 such a fabulous festival.