The Hope Fault – Notes, resources and references

Hope Fault close-up 2015 South Island Geology map, Unfolding the map exhibition

Like most writers, I’m a magpie, taking shiny things from the world around me and making them my own, absorbing and transforming them in my writing. So, in addition to the acknowledgements printed in the back of the book (reproduced at the bottom of this page), I wanted to acknowledge some of the sources, resources … Read more…

Exhibition: Art is a Living Thing, until 15 Jan

Art is a Living Thing

International Exhibition of 100 Artists in Masterton. New Zealand Pacific Studio, the international yet rural residency centre for artists located in the hills of Mount Bruce, Wairarapa, mounts the international exhibition Art Is a Living Thing, with work by 100 of its artists from 15 countries, and from each of the 15 years that the … Read more…

Performance: Art is a Living Thing – Saturday Afternoon Live

Saturday Afternoon Live

I’ll be reading from my short story ‘Once had me’ on Saturday 3 December at Saturday Afternoon Live, a performance as part of the opening weekend of New Zealand Pacific Studio’s exhibition Art is a Living Thing, which runs at Aratoi Museum from 3 December 2016 to 15 January 2017. There’ll be music, and a reading … Read more…

Publication day: Good Dog! anthology

Good Dog 2016

Today marks the publication of Good Dog! New Zealand Writers on Dogs, an anthology edited by Stephanie Johnson, and produced in glorious hardback by Vintage / Penguin Random House New Zealand. It includes writing — poetry, fiction, essays, old and new — from a cast of New Zealand writers, including Fiona Kidman, Charlotte Grimshaw, Tina … Read more…

At the bay

Good Dog 2016

The kids are busy at the river mouth. … There’s one black dog right in there with them, a mad barker, lolling and lollopping. Another dog, black-and-white, more serious, is hanging back, watching, crouched up the beach on its haunches, front paws out, ears up, attentive, as if it’s watching skittish sheep. The dog glances … Read more…

Writing workshop at 2016 WORD Christchurch Festival

WORD Christchurch 2016

The programme has just been launched for WORD Christchurch 2016 Writers & Readers Festival, which runs from 26 to 28 August. I’ll be teaching a writing workshop on the Friday of the festival.   Teaching the monster to speak: Writing believable fictional characters Writing fiction is a licence to invent and transform. When we write, we might choose to … Read more…

Aardvarks + Aussies + BUST, oh my!

Hashtag wordchch

In a fortnight I’ll be in Christchurch for WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival 2016 (24–28 August). There’s a hashtag, of course; trust @kebabette to wear it with style. The last #WORDCHCH, in 2014, was fabulous (I wrote about it here and here, and here‘s the PechaKucha talk I gave there), and this year the festival promises (less scary than lions and tigers … Read more…

Portland Book Review – The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt

The Life + Loves of Lena Gaunt (Aardvark Bureau 2016)

Dick Weissman gave The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt 4.5 stars in his review this month for Portland Book Review. …a complex and lyrical novel about the life of an Australian musician who becomes an early exponent of the theremin. ★★★★1/2 — @PDXBookReview Read the review online Follow Portland Book Review on Twitter or Facebook

‘Tracy Farr, inaugural Mildura Writer in Residence’ interview

Mildura Living Magazine Winter 2016

In Mildura Living Magazine‘s Winter 2016 issue, Rebecca Butterworth’s interview with Tracy Farr touches on food, writing, family history, and inspiration from landscape and people. …the striking intimacy and sense of community of the festival itself; delightful and surprising resonances, and support not just from everyone there for the weekend of the festival, but from the Mildura arts and wider … Read more…