Story festival draws 25,000

The bug man Rudd Kleinpaste had children squealing with his weta-in-the-mouth act.

Dr Seuss' character The Cat in the Hat made a special appearance to mark the release of a Maori version of the bedtime favourite.

And Keisha Castle-Hughes enchanted some of a crowd of more than 25,000 who flocked to the Aotea Centre for the Storylines Festival Family Day yesterday.

The Whale Rider actor and Oscar nominee read from Witi Ihimaera's book on which the movie was based.

Margaret Mahy and Joy Cowley joined other writers to give readings of their works and Ihimaera got children to chant from his book The Little Kowhai Tree.

Festival director Robin Houlker said the family day was a great success, capping off a week of events nationwide for the 11th Storylines Festival.


Many of the children wanted to see more of literary figures who toured their schools last week, Mrs Houlker said.

Ten writers, illustrators and storytellers had visited 72 schools and 40 early childhood centres.