Look, Listen & Learn

2020 WINTER SERIES Ep 11: ​Kolokesa U Māhina-Tuai, Leanne Shapton, Neil Gaiman

Note that episode starts at 4:55

The Auckland Writers Festival 13-week WINTER SERIES streamed live and free every Sunday morning from 3 May - 26 July 2020.

Episode 11 features:


KOLOKESA U MĀHINA-TUAI (Aotearoa New Zealand) author and curator Kolokesa U Māhina-Tuai, is the founder of the cultural consultancy Lagi-Maama, and coedited the encyclopaedic three-century spanning Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania.

LEANNE SHAPTON (Canada) Leanne is a writer, artist, former Olympic swimming triallist, New York Times design editor, and publisher. She is the author of the award-winning Swimming Studies, co-author of Women in Clothes and her latest offering, Guestbook: Ghost Stories, uses artefacts – ephemera, photos, architectural plans, and her own watercolours in 33 tales of guests, ghosts and other lingering presences.

NEIL GAIMAN (England) The award-winning Neil Gaiman is author of over 30 acclaimed books and graphic novels for adults and children, including ‘merican Gods, The Sandman series, Coraline and The Graveyard Book The renowned storyteller’s work has been adapted for film, radio and television – including scripts for Doctor Who. Neil will be discussing his latest work, an illustrated edition of his highly acclaimed novel for adults, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

HOST: PAULA MORRIS (Aotearoa New Zealand) Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua) is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist. The 2019 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, she teaches creative writing at The University of Auckland, sits on the Māori Literature Trust and is the founder of the Academy of NZ Literature.


This series provides an opportunity to champion New Zealand and international books that were to feature at our now-cancelled May Festival, we encourage you to support writers and NZ publishers and booksellers and the featured books can be purchased here.

The Festival thanks its presentation partner Auckland Live, as well as Copyright Licensing New Zealand and all our generous sponsors, funders, patrons and friends whose support has enabled us to continue our work during these extraordinary times.