A festival showcasing creative diversity with workshops, talks and performances for children, young people and adults, from Pāekakariki to Ōtaki!
There are gardening, environment, historical fiction, illustration and publishing talks. For the literary-minded there are workshops on writing memoir, world building, script and song writing.
Whānau can engage with a number of library talks from prominent writers, children’s performances and te reo storytelling. For rangatahi there is a spoken word and a queer ruri rongoā workshop. The whole family can kōrero with Ōtaki’s own Hori and print a t-shirt featuring kupu to express their harikoa.
The festival showcases an open mic session, a spoken word performance and Bookmark’s Big Night Out– an evening of story, music, light and soul.
We also have our very own book market, Author Alley.
Not all of our stories are written by authors in books. Any budding cyclists or walkers can explore the expressway shared path and learn about our colonial history, quirky happenings, book settings, places of environmental interest and another look at the cultural history that is already documented in the pou along the way. CycleStory will be open for a few weeks before the event and a further week after. As well as learning some fascinating tales of early Kāpiti, you can win prizes, send in your own writing and participate in our online quiz.
Many events will include the opportunity to buy books and local independent bookseller Books & Co will have a stand at the Otaihanga Boating Club venue over the weekend.
