News & Updates

2021 SCHOOLS PROGRAMME WRITERS AND DATES

2021 SCHOOLS PROGRAMME WRITERS AND DATES

BERNARD BECKETT | SELINA TUSITALA MARSH | KARLO MILA
BRIAN SELZNICK | ANGIE THOMAS | JESSICA TOWNSEND *


*NZ writers appearing live; international guests beaming in via video link.
Further writers to be announced in February.

PROGRAMME DATES

11 - 13 MAY 2021, AOTEA CENTRE, AUCKLAND

YEARS 5 & 6: Tuesday 11th, Wednesday 12th, Thursday 13th May
YEARS 7 & 8: Tuesday 11th May
YEARS 9–13: Wednesday 12th, Thursday 13th May

FULL PROGRAMME RELEASE AND BOOKINGS OPEN: 10 FEBRUARY

Tickets are allocated on a first come, first served basis and the programme does sell out, so book as soon as possible after tickets go on sale in February.

We offer transport subsidies to get students to the Aotea Centre: applications open 10 February.

Teaching resources will be developed by the National Library to provide deeper exploration before and after programme attendance.



BERNARD BECKETT (AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND)
Hailed as this country’s most exciting young adult writer (Radio NZ), master storyteller and teacher Bernard Beckett presents his middle grade novel, The Tunnel of Dreams. A fantasy adventure about friendship and loyalty, dreaming big and achieving the impossible, it follows award-winning YA novels, including Genesis and Malcolm and Juliet, for which he won Prix Sorcières, Esther Glen and NZ Post Book Awards.

SELINA TUSITALA MARSH (AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND)
After the runaway success of her award-winning graphic memoir Mophead, poet, performer and teacher Selina Tusitala Marsh follows up with Mophead Tu which sees her leave the South Seas for the smoggy streets of London to perform a poem for the Queen. A former poet laureate, Selina is a leading advocate for Pasifika poetry and literature, and a passionate and eloquent voice for celebrating difference.



KARLO MILA (AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND)
One of this country’s most outstanding poets, with ancestral links to Tonga, Samoa and Aotearoa New Zealand, Karlo Mila has performed locally and internationally and had her work taught in schools and universities across the Pacific. The Goddess Muscle is her third volume of poetry and spans work written over a decade exploring the powerful effect on Pasifika peoples of some of the defining issues of the times.


BRIAN SELZNICK (USA) The Invention of Hugo Cabret - a Caldecott Medal winner, the basis of the film Hugo, and described as ‘complete genius’ by The Horn Book - is the work of #1 New York Times bestselling author Brian Selznick. His other creations include Wonderstruck and The Marvels, and he has illustrated numerous picture books and novels, with his acclaimed work translated into 35 languages. In 2019 he re-imagined and illustrated Harry Potter book covers to celebrate the US series 20th anniversary.

ANGIE THOMAS (USA)
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling novels The Hate U Give and On the Come Up, Angie Thomas, comes new novel Concrete Rose. Angie is a former teen rapper, and a writer of powerful and engrossing YA stories that prompt timely conversations. In her latest we return to Garden Heights and the 17-years-before backstory of The Hate You Give’s unforgettable Maverick Carter.

JESSICA TOWNSEND (AUSTRALIA)
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow was the biggest-selling Australian children's debut since records began, winning its author Jessica Townsend a slew of national and international praise and awards. Hot on the heels of second instalment Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, comes the much acclaimed Hollowpox; The Hunt for Morrigan Crow, in which Morrigan must find a cure for the deadly Hollowpox.


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