Thanks to the amazing Claire Mabey, Andrew Laking and the team, another Verb Festival has kicked off in Wellington with some great October events, to be followed by the main festival in early November. Full programme here. Hats off to anyone arranging events in these troublesome times, particularly an entire literary festival.

As always, there’s a terrific line-up of writers. I am especially looking forward to the Verb Poetry Showcase on 3rd November and the Verb Gala Night on 4th November.

A highlight of the festival is always LitCrawl (evening of 6th November), where the good folk of Wellington take to the streets and wander from one literary event to the next in cafes, bars, shops and churches across the inner city. This year is a little different and we will need to wear masks and book for LitCrawl events beforehand. Some events are already sold out so you might want to get in quick!

I will be appearing in ‘What We Talk About When We Think About the Future‘ alongside Hirini Kaa, Reverend Raymond Pelly, Romesh Dissanayake and Ash Davida Jane at St. Peter’s, 211 Willis St on 6th November from 8:30pm – 9:15pm, the final leg of the Crawl. You can register here.