KYLE MEWBURN WITH FEANA TU'AKOI TALK
SUNDAY 20 AUGUST 1:30-3:00PM
ROTOTUNA HIGH SCHOOLS LIBRARY
56 KIMBRAE DRIVE, ROTOTUNA
Hear Kyle Mewburn in a relaxed conversational chat about her books, writing life and life in general, hosted by Feana Tu'akoi. This discussion between author friends will include Kyle's latest books We saw a Spinosaurus (Scholastic), Have You Seen Tomorrow? (Penguin Random House NZ) and her forthcoming adult book Sewing Moonlight (Bateman).
Feana's Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award-winning novel, Lopini the Legend published by Scholastic NZ will be launched at this event.
Pennys Bookstore will be selling Kyle's and Feana's books. This event is in partnership with Waikato Writers (local branch of NZ Society of Authors) with sponsorship from Storylines Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa.
Look for our Hamilton Book Month banners to lead you to the library.
Author
Kyle Mewburn was born in Brisbane and holds a Bachelor of Business degree from the Queensland Institute of Technology. She travelled widely across Europe and the Middle East before settling in Central Otago in 1990, working at a wide variety of jobs. Her career as a children’s writer took off when she won the Storylines Joy Cowley Award in 2005 for a picture book text. Subsequently published as Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! her story went on to win both Picture Book and Children’s Choice Awards at the 2007 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and the USA-based Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award. Among her other picture books, several named as Storylines Notable Books, is Old Hu-Hu which, with its te reo translation, Hu-hu Koroheke, won the supreme award at the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards. Recent works include chapter books for emerging readers and educational titles for Oxford University Press. In 2011, Kyle Mewburn was the Creative NZ writer-in-residence at the Otago University College of Education, and she served as President of the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN Inc) from 2013-17. In 2021 her memoir, Faking It: My life in transition, was published by Penguin. Kyle served as a judge for the 2022 New Zealand Children’s and Young Adult Book awards.
Chair and Author
Feana Tu‘akoi is a Kirikiriroa-based writer, with a strong background in educational writing. She writes for both adults and children, and has published over 230 titles – including books, readers, plays, articles, poetry, creative non-fiction and radio stories. Much of her work centres on Tongan-Pālangi families, like her own. Eight of her ten trade books for children have been recognised in the junior fiction, non-fiction or picture book categories of various awards, and her work has been translated into several languages.
Feana was the 2022 Massey University Writer in Residence and is part of the judging panel for the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Her Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award-winning mid-grade novel, Lopini the Legend, has just been published by Scholastic NZ.