Early Festival Events
How would a writer respond to Te Papa’s latest international exhibition, Surrealist Art: Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen? Find out in this free event curated by poet Rebecca Hawkes.
Image credit: Unica Zürn, Composition, 1955, gouache on paper. © Verlag Brinkmann & Bose, Berlin, Germany. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Photo: Studio Tromp
(SOLD OUT) Join women’s historian Jessie Bray-Sharpin on a walking tour of some of Wellington’s most interesting feminist ghosts. Two tours only. Limited capacity.
Artist Catherine Bagnall and writer Jane Sayle lead an expedition into the bush with hand-crafted costume pieces that will transform us into not-quite-humans. We’ll look at the world a little differently and then enjoy a picnic together. Suitable for ages 3 and up.
Forager and writer Johanna Knox comes to your home to lead your coven on a foraging expedition followed by a creating writing workshop inspired by our nature adventures. One of four of our special Travelling Coven events in the lead up to Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2022.
SOLD OUT (more tickets will be released if we are in Level 1 and the guidelines under Level 1 enable us to host more people)
Expert forager and writer Johanna Knox sits down with writer and Rongoā specialist Arihia Latham to talk about the story behind her beautiful, and hugely successful book, A Forager’s Treasury. Tickets include tea and cake.
Poet and embroiderer Stacey Teague comes to your home to lead a workshop in bringing words and weaving images together. One of four of our special Travelling Coven events in the lead up to Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2022.
We are delighted to bring the creators of cult hit book Literary Witches, Taisia Kitaiskia and Katy Horan, to our Festival via the magic of the internet, to discuss collaboration, witches, creative women and inspiration with local artist-writers Catherine Bagnall and Jane Sayle.
(SOLD OUT)
Writer Ingrid Horrocks comes to your home to lead your coven in conversation about our memories of travel, on books about various ways of travelling in nature, and we will work on some of our own writing too (even if you never have before). One of four of our special Travelling Coven events in the lead up to Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2022.
SOLD OUT
Writer and artist Jess Richards comes to your home to lead conversation and a creative workshop where we let recipe books and and memories of food inspire us. One of four of our special Travelling Coven events in the lead up to Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2022.
(SOLD OUT) A limited capacity event with extraordinary poet Alison Glenny who will talk with writer Pip Adam about her latest book, Bird Collector. Like a vast cabinet of curiosities, this book leads the reader into shadowy corners, full of strange treasure.
Wednesday 3 November
You are summoned to a sublime experience of poetry to spark some magic within and between you.
Chris Tse hosts a salon with contributors to one of the stand-out anthologies of 2021, A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand.
Immerse yourself in the lush surrounds of the Wellington Apothecary and be inspired by scent and touch with writer Joy Holley who leads you in a creative beauty ritual and writing workshop.
Thursday 4 November
In a special event designed to pay homage to our sisters who took the skies on broomsticks, nine incredible Aotearoa writers take the idea of ‘flight’ and share new writing with us for the fist time.
Friday 5 November
POSTPONED until COVID levels drop. All ticket buyers will be notified.
Award winning comedian and feminist witch Tessa Waters and her cackling disco coven get our party started.
Come witches and share your glorious rage. We rage, we love, we dance.
Meet the authors from the brilliant Witchy Fiction collective! Hear readings, hear how they got started, enjoy one of the best indie bookshops in town!
Artist Jo Randerson talks with Anna Fifield (journalist, editor of the Dominion Post), Māmari Stephens (Māori Chaplain, Anglican Priest and Reader in the Faculty of Law at University of Victoria) and Robyn Hunt (writer, accessibility activist) about the work that is and has been most meaningful, challenging and transformational for them.
Some of Aotearoa’s greatest writers read from as yet unpublished, new work.
Saturday 6 November
Pōneke artist/writer Jo Randerson ONZM works on her feet with a live audience to tease out material for her new book Secret Art Powers: not so much a self-help manual as “a deliberate intervention against the horror show of materialist, consumer thinking.”
The eighth annual lit explosion in Wellington’s CBD.
Sorrow & Bliss has been celebrated around the world as a game-changing novel about mental health. Meg Mason joins Noelle McCarthy in a conversation about writing to the heart of love and grief.
In Faking It, Kyle Mewburn takes us back to her childhood in Australia where growing up as a young boy she had to hide her true identity. Kyle speaks to Jane Arthur about her life story so far.
CANCELLED: Due to COVID 19 travel restrictions this event is cancelled. However we are reframing it for a podcast. All ticket buyers will be notified.
CANCELLED: Due to COVID 19 this event is cancelled. All of those who have registered will be notified.
Rachel Kerr (Victory Park) and Fleur Beale (The Calling) speak with Sarah Forster about writing characters who are driven by empathy.
Three writers share new takes on old fairytales - tackling dominant ableist stories and challenging the status quo.
Lynn Davidson leads a workshop in which you will read poems that are also spells and spells that are also poems. You will write your own spells. You will make a poetry charm!
CANCELLED: Due to COVID 19 Level 2 this event is cancelled. However it is being reframed for an online format. All ticket buyers will be notified with refund or ticket swap options.
Here is where new exciting talent will be showcased for the first time, with work that will blow your mind. Curated by Ruth Smith for Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori.
Sam George-Allen’s collection of essays covers nuns, farmers, musicians, and beauticians among many other ways that women work collectively. We beam Sam in live from Tasmania to talk with Michele A’Court about her research.
Dr Ngahuia Murphy and writer Ataria Sharman to writer Whiti Hereaka about the importance of creatively connecting with the feminine divine.
Best-selling novelist Catherine Robertson leads a workshops on the process of creating distinctive and memorable fictional characters that build strong connections with readers.
One of the most astonishing books of the decade is A Ghost in the Throat written by Doireann Ní Ghríofa. Verb Director Claire Mabey talks with Doireann live from Cork, Ireland about her ground-breaking exploration of how to retrieve a woman’s life from the systems that silence.
Angelique Kasmara (Isobar Precinct), Jacqueline Bublitz (Before You Knew My Name) and Cassie Hart (Butcherbird) talk about their compelling novels that take readers to the edge of our world.
Sunday 7 November
Catherine Robertson talks to Sue Orr about her tour-de-force novel which explores the current pandemic, women’s health, autism, families and so much more.
All are welcome to this special evening in celebration of the seven writers honoured in our Literary Coven Cards created by Verb Wellington with the support of the Mātātuhi Foundation.
Have you ever found yourself asking ‘where next?’ Join author, Druid, conservationist, life coach and seasonal festival host, Pamela Meekings-Stewart, for an insight into her tool for questioning and adaptation inspired by the life cycle of trees.
Paula Morris talks with acclaimed writers Renée, Dame Fiona Kidman, and Linda Burgess to discover what advice, for both writing and life, they might impart.
Hinemoa Elder speaks with Māni Dunlop about the best-selling book of whakataukī, Aroha: Māori wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet.
During this two-hour session poet, Manisha Anjali, will lead an exploration of dreaming as storytelling practice, performance of symbology and tools for truth, play and deep engagement with our own stories.
CANCELLED: Due to COVID 19 restrictions this event is cancelled. All ticket buyers will be notified.
Renée, Whiti Hereaka, Matariki Williams, Anahera Gildea and Nadine Anne Hura invite you to grab your crochet, that unfinished scarf, and join us in an intimate unpicking.
Acclaimed writer Rebecca Macfie speaks with journalist Jo Moir about Rebecca’s biography of the brilliant leader, Helen Kelly.
Michelle Erai talks Alice Te Punga Somerville through her award-winning study of colonial images of Māori women.
Join ‘one of the most consistently accomplished and versatile writers for teenagers in the country’ (The New Zealand Listener) for a workshop on writing for young adults.
Legendary booksellers Tilly Lloyd and Carole Beu (The Women’s Bookshop) speak with Marion Castree about their personal histories of the book trade in Aotearoa.
A stroll of four fantastic events in Newtown’s luminous bookshops on Sunday afternoon.
Author of the gripping dystopia, Unsheltered, Clare Moleta talks with Pip Adam about her inspirations, the impact of climate change on her world-building, and the potential of parenting as a driver for exceptionally good fiction.
Historian Claire Regnault talks with Jessie Bray Sharpin about her sumptuous book, Dressed, which delves into the history of clothing in Aotearoa.
POSTPONED until Level 1.
The Reading to Kuri programme is designed for children who feel anxious reading out loud in front of grown ups and peers. NZ Sign Language interpreters will be available at designated time slots.
CANCELLED: We are sad to say that this magical family programme is cancelled due to COVID 19. We look forward to future family celebrations when conditions allow.
Charlotte Grimshaw talks with Michele A’Court about her extraordinary memoir.
Megan Dunn’s collection of personal essays is a rare combination of comedy, heartbreak, and incisive albeit irreverent commentary on popular culture, high art and the machinations of art education - and what it means to pay through the nose for it. Megan speaks to Kim Hill about the things she’s learned in the school of life.
Workshops
During this two-hour session poet, Manisha Anjali, will lead an exploration of dreaming as storytelling practice, performance of symbology and tools for truth, play and deep engagement with our own stories.
Join ‘one of the most consistently accomplished and versatile writers for teenagers in the country’ (The New Zealand Listener) for a workshop on writing for young adults.
Lynn Davidson leads a workshop in which you will read poems that are also spells and spells that are also poems. You will write your own spells. You will make a poetry charm!
Best-selling novelist Catherine Robertson leads a workshops on the process of creating distinctive and memorable fictional characters that build strong connections with readers.
Immerse yourself in the lush surrounds of the Wellington Apothecary and be inspired by scent and touch with writer Joy Holley who leads you in a creative beauty ritual and writing workshop.