Māpua Community Library Literary Festival 2027. The dates are confirmed for Friday 6 August through to Sunday 8 August 2027.
Māpua Community Library Literary Festival 2025. Friday 12 September through to Sunday 14 September at the Māpua Community Hall, Aranui Road, Māpua.
The 7th Māpua Literary Festival is organised by volunteers from the library and features local writers from the Tasman & Golden Bay areas as well as Wellington and Auckland. The theme this year is Love, Lies and Legacy. Authors include: Gerard Hindmarsh, Michael Bennett, Tom Rowling, Erin Palmisano, Olive Jones, Anna Riedel, Kerry Sunderland, Bruce Cole, Jennifer Hassloch and Jenny Pattrick.
Conversationalists: Adrienne Taylor, Chris Stuart, Steve Henry, Kerry Sunderland, Liz Price and Elaine Fisher.
There is also a Love, Lies & Legacy short story competition open to all Tasman and Golden Bay writers. There are 3 categories: children (Years 6-8), young adults (Years 9-13) and adult (over 18 years). Closing date for entries 7 September. Full details and entry form here:
Friday 12th September Opening night: from 6.30pm wine and nibbles (cash bar).
7:30pm The event starts with Martine Baanvinger’s solo performance “Red Heavens”. Tickets – $25. Sold out.
From Stromboli to D’Urville Island, Martine brings a powerful, dynamic and passionate solo show to the stage. “Red Heavens” portrays the true story of Angelina Moleta, an Italian pioneering immigrant on D’Urville Island, whose fate is intertwined with the forces of nature and her deep connection with Wetekia Ruruku Elkington, a high-born Māori woman. Growing up on the active volcanic island of Stromboli, she is betrothed to her cousin who brings her, in the year 1906, to the even more remote D’Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Through hardship and an unlikely friendship, she grows into womanhood and motherhood.
This dynamic play is inspired by the book Angelina by New Zealand author Gerard Hindmarsh who wrote the book about his grandmother.
Saturday 13th September. Day One:
10.00-11.00am: Gerard Hindmarsh – new book – Hard-Case Heroes – Stories from the Abel Tasman. Release- Sept/Oct 2025. Conversationalist – Adrienne Taylor.
Building on the success of his Kahurangi backcountry trilogy, Gerard Hindmarsh’s latest book focuses on some of the quirky and largely untold characters associated with the Abel Tasman coast and its uplands. Early settlers and park rangers, an island hermit and defiant squatters, graziers and limestone miners; Hard-Case Heroes is a a highly readable and engaging book about a remarkable corner of New Zealand, written by a local with a love of the area and a nose for a good story.
At 22,530 ha the Abel Tasman is New Zealand’s smallest national park and also one of its most visited with an estimated 300 thousand visitors in 2017.
Born in Wellington in 1957, Gerard Hindmarsh shifted to Golden Bay in 1976. He moved into journalism in 1991 and his award-winning feature writing has appeared in a variety of publications both here and overseas. He also served for many years as National Radio’s Asian Correspondent on Kim Hill’s Nine To Noon show.
Gerard has five children and still lives on his land at Tukurua, near Collingwood, on the edge of Kahurangi National Park. Aside from his first collection of stories published in Kahurangi Calling, Gerard’s books include Angelina: From Stromboli to D’Urville Island, Swamp Fever, and Kahawai: The People’s Fish.
10.00am – 11.30am: Workshop by Wendy Scott. The first of two exciting workshops run by Wendy Scott.
Workshop: Character Creation. Dive into the art of creating characters that leap off the page with personality and depth. Experiment with techniques to make your characters relatable and engaging.
Bill Marris Room, Māpua Community Hall and is open to everyone. Cost: Adults $20, Under 18 $10. Enquiries: Phone: 0223990075 or email: mapualibrarynz@gmail.com.
11:30-12:30pm: Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue), Carved in Blood – A gripping conclusion to the Hana Westerman trilogy and Stef Harris, two novellas under the title Girl From Sarajevo.
Conversationalist – Chris Stuart with Stef Harris and Michael Bennett. This lively interview sees crime writer Chris Stuart explore how fellow Ngaio Marsh Award authors portray New Zealand, and how gender, culture, and background shape their detectives and storytelling.
12:30-1:30pm: LUNCH
2:00-3:00 pm: Tom Rowling: Rolling Seas to Rowling Heights.
Rolling Seas to Rowling Heights tells the tale of young Tom Rowling’s first six years at sea, 1959–65, written to share experiences of a bygone age. Tom joined the Westhaven Shipping Company in March 1959 as a sixteen-year-old deck boy on a scow, a small wooden ship that traded around the coast of New Zealand. He progressed through the industry to second mate when he came ashore in December 1965 to start a water taxi business, ferrying holidaymakers from Kaiteriteri into Abel Tasman National Park.
Tom’s ancestor was the first European to set foot on Kaiteriteri Beach, after sailing with Captain Arthur Wakefield in 1841, and so Tom continues a long tradition of the Rowling name being present in Kaiteriteri.
Conversationalist – Steve Henry.
3:30-4:30pm: Erin Palmisano – latest release The Secrets of Maiden’s Cove. Conversationalist – Kerry Sunderland (afternoon tea & cake included in ticket).
From 5.30 – 6:30pm Drinks & Nibbles (cash bar)
6:30-9:30pm Poetry at Night “Verses of the Heart”, love, lies and lasting legacy. MC: Roger Lusby: 15-minute presentations commencing with Carol Don Ercolano, Henry Ludbrook, Mark Raffills, Emma Stevens, Rose Michel von Dreger, Warwick Stubbs, and Roger Lusby’s Ernest Shackleton.
Carol Don Ercolano is a Nelson poet who has been published in a number of anthologies and
magazines both in New Zealand and overseas. She has written poetry since childhood but the NMIT Creative Writing Course also opened her to the genres of short story and writing for children. Carol has compiled and edited several anthologies and enjoys the analysis and appreciation of the written word almost as much as she enjoys writing and performing. She is a founding member of a local writing group, Boulder Writers, co-ran Nelson Live Poets for many years, and, for ten years, ran the Poetry in the Window Scheme, which involved selecting and displaying local poets’ work in shop windows in Trafalgar St, Nelson. She has been Guest Poet for a Top of the South Writers Writing Retreat, a Poetry Judge for the Golden Bay Lit Awards, and has given talks on poetry, including performing her own, to various groups. Carol’s background of primary school teaching, business ownership, and wide committee experience has given her the ability to listen, to respond and to enthuse others with her love of words.
Carol Don Ercolano is a Nelson poet who has been published in a number of anthologies and magazines both in New Zealand and overseas. She has written poetry since childhood but the NMIT Creative Writing Course also opened her to the genres of short story and writing for children. Carol has compiled and edited several anthologies and enjoys the analysis and appreciation of the written word almost as much as she enjoys writing and performing. She is a founding member of a local writing group, Boulder Writers, co-ran Nelson Live Poets for many years, and, for ten years, ran the Poetry in the Window Scheme, which involved selecting and displaying local poets’ work in shop windows in Trafalgar St, Nelson. She has been Guest Poet for a Top of the South Writers Writing Retreat, a Poetry Judge for the Golden Bay Lit Awards, and has given talks on poetry, including performing her own, to various groups. Carol’s background of primary school teaching, business ownership, and wide committee experience has given her the ability to listen, to respond and to enthuse others with her love of words.
Henry Ludbrook
Henry is a Nelson-based poet who has been writing poetry since he was 16. Henry writes about his life with a raw, perceptive openness that is at once engaging and captivating. Henry writes to offer consolation to others who journey through the difficulties of life and to show the singular purpose of human suffering and the spiritual realisation that accompany it. There is humour and joy
and illumination for those who find Ludbrook’s poems a mirror to their own paths. Ludbrook writes with depth and lyrical skill that seems old and new at the same time. Ludbrook currently lives and writes in Nelson.
Mark Raffills
In the words of the late Dr Dermot Mora, author Albatross Blue:
“Raffills has the gift of the unexpected attitude, the original phrase, the original thought, that makes me rethink about my friends of the past, Curnow, Glover, Brasch for example, wordsmiths par excellence but somewhere passion missed out.”
And from the Nelson Mail’s Stewart Hunt: “His uncluttered and unpretentious performance makes the most of some striking words.”
Christchurch-born and Whanganui raised, Emma Stevens is a retired teacher and author. She spent six memorable years in isolated villages in bush Alaska in the early 2000s, where bush planes provided access to the outside world and where small village communities rely on each other for survival. In 2007, she returned to Nelson and worked as a resource teacher in Motueka. Five years later while still teaching, she began writing about her Alaskan experiences. In 2013 Emma released Walking on Ice, her first book in the trilogy of memoirs describing the adventures, dangers and excitement of bush living while working with the Yup’ik Eskimo people. The second book about her Alaskan experiences, Nesting on the Nushagak followed two years later, and after popular demand she released the final book Dancing on the Tundra in 2016 in what then became an Alaskan trilogy. Since the release of her first book, she has been in demand, travelling with her husband throughout NZ and giving hundreds of talks as well as sharing artefacts about her time in Alaska.
Emma has recently completed her first novel, and begun writing poetry again. She lives with her husband in Tasman Village, surrounded by the orchards and vineyards of the stunning Upper Moutere area.
Rose Michel von Dreger won the Robert Burns Award for Poetry in Canada and in New Zealand was once asked to open for Sam Hunt. Her poetry has been exhibited in several multimedia exhibitions and toured the Top of the South Island in 2018 with Mark Raffills and Henry Ludbrook as ‘The Word, The Reckoning and The Rose’. She enjoys performing at the Mussel Inn in Golden Bay, especially with musicians such as Kristina Jensen, Jo Barlow, Galanjah and The Mad Hallelujah Tribe.
Warwick Stubbs is originally from Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Aotearoa, and moved to Tasman in 2016. Since moving to Tasman, the spark of creativity leapt away from music composition and onto pages of poetry. In 2018, The Tasman Journey was completed, published and distributed in 2020; in 2024, the second book of poetry & prose Two Left Feet was published – a book Maggie Tweedie from RNZ’s Culture 101 referred to as “Brilliant” and said “there are so many beautiful scenes. There’s a real grounding sense of discovery in Two Left Feet”.
Roger Lusby began writing poetry as a result of space restrictions imposed by telegram communications when in Antarctica for the 1969/70 season. Now a published author, Roger has been encouraged to revisit the impact Antarctica had on his life. For this Festival, he will share a poetic audiovisual tribute to Sir Ernest Shackleton, with a condensed description of his 1914 expedition South and the loss of the Ship Endurance. This is also a teaser for Roger’s forthcoming one man show entitled ‘40 Years Below’ about his year on the ice. Now living in the top of the South with his wife Deirdre, they both enjoy the friendships gained from performing and promoting poetry and music.
Sunday 14th September. Day 2:
10.00am – 11.30am: Workshop by Wendy Scott.
Workshop: Creative Writing based on Love, Lies and Legacy. Tangled Hearts & Hidden Truths: A Creative Writing Journey.
Ready to unleash your creativity? In this inspiring workshop, we’ll dive into the tangled emotions of love, the drama of deception, and the mark we leave behind. Through fun prompts and guided exercises, you’ll craft unforgettable characters and stories that stir the heart and spark the imagination. Perfect for beginners and seasoned writers alike!
Bill Marris Room, Māpua Community Hall and is open to everyone. Cost: Adults $20, Under 18 $10. Enquiries: Phone: 0223990075 or email: mapualibrarynz@gmail.com.
10.00-11.00am: Olive Jones, Anna Riedel and Kerry Sunderland. Conversationalist – Liz Price.
Join Liz Price and these three storytellers as they explore alternative ways of living in Aotearoa. From communes to cottagecore, their work reflects a shared longing for simplicity, sustainability and deeper connection to place and community. This conversation celebrates lives lived in harmony with nature and each other.
11.30-12.30pm: Bruce Cole & Jennifer Hassloch: The Settlement Series: Battle For the Bluff, Revolt, Revenge. First time novelist, Bruce Cole and his editor Jennifer Hassloch talk with Elaine Fisher about The Settlement series, how it came about, release of the second book and the third still to come.
Bruce Cole
The Settlement trilogy, a dystopian fiction with story locations based along NZ’s South Island West Coast – Little Wanganui, Westport & Greymouth being central to this action-packed story with a distinct Kiwi flavour with characters who entertain the reader.
Battle for the Bluff, Revolt, & Revenge make up this dystopian fiction trilogy featuring Brad, a retired SASR soldier seeking peace in Little Wanganui. After a global EMP disaster, he trains locals to defend their homes. As tensions rise, Brad’s tough exterior cracks, revealing a flawed, determined man fighting for survival.
2nd book: Revolt
Revolt continues Brad’s story as he faces lingering threats and rising trauma after battling Scavengers. Forced back into conflict, he struggles with the lasting scars of survival. In Revolt, Brad faces new threats and old enemies after the battle for Little Wanganui. Haunted and on edge, he’s forced into conflict again.
Jennifer Hassloch
Bruce’s story instantly hooked me. As a former ICU nurse, I relate deeply, bringing human emotion, humour, and flow to his technical world — and ruthlessly cutting what doesn’t add value. Bruce had the vision; I brought emotional depth. My ICU background helped me shape authentic connections, humour, and narrative flow — and I’m ruthless about cutting anything that doesn’t serve the story.
Jennifer Hassloch
Bruce’s story instantly hooked me. As a former ICU nurse, I relate deeply, bringing human emotion, humour, and flow to his technical world — and ruthlessly cutting what doesn’t add value. Bruce had the vision; I brought emotional depth. My ICU background helped me shape authentic connections, humour, and narrative flow — and I’m ruthless about cutting anything that doesn’t serve the story.
Conversationalist: Elaine Fisher
12:30-1:30pm LUNCH
2:00-3:00pm: Jenny Pattrick – new release Sea Change.
Novelist Nicky Pellegrino calls Jenny Pattrick, ‘one of this country’s most talented storytellers,’ and Jenny’s novels The Denniston Rose and its sequel Heart of Coal are amongst New Zealand’s biggest selling novels. This year, Bateman Books are very proud to be publishing Jenny’s contemporary fiction novel, exploring the impact on a small New Zealand seaside community after a natural disaster. This riveting and charismatic story of survival celebrates tenacity, self-sufficiency, and a fierce love of home, even against dire odds. Sea Change is a very topical story dealing with managed retreat issues. It also highlights the difference between rich and powerful and poor but resourceful citizens in present times where clever solutions are needed. Jenny’s closely observed characters, adept use of dialogue, and storytelling skills should make Sea Change a best seller.
Jenny Pattrick is a writer and former jeweller. Her jewellery is in private and national collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, National Museum of New Zealand. Her ten published novels include The Denniston Rose, its sequel Heart of Coal, Landings, Inheritance and most recently Harbouring which have all been New Zealand number one best sellers. She has written books and lyrics for several children’s shows, and this year she wrote the play Hope showing at the Circa Theatre in Wellington with a similarity to Sea Change as they both deal with current political problems and involve family and community relations. In 2009 she received the Mansfield Menton Fellowship. In 2011 she and husband, musician Laughton Pattrick, published the children’s book and CD of songs, The Very Important Godwit and in 1990 she was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts.
Conversationalist – Liz Price
3:30-4:00: Competition winners announced/ Final closing.
The Māpua Literary Festival celebrates the continued series of literary events being held in Māpua hosted by the Māpua Community Library. The festival enables the enhancement of the library’s facilities and collection of books and thereby improves services to the local community as well as increasing awareness of all aspects of literature and encouraging reading. All ticket sales go towards the library upkeep and purchasing books. The festival also provides a wonderful opportunity to promote local businesses, Māpua and its environs. Māpua is a delightful coastal village, 40 minutes’ drive from Nelson city. It’s well provided with great cafes, restaurants, things to do and wonderful accommodation, making it perfect for a literary weekend away.
SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR 2025 SPONSORS
