The event was hosted by the Queenstown Writers Festival Trust to launch its sixth annual celebration of writing and reading to be held between October 31 and November 3.
The crowd hung on to every word spoken during the 90-minute conversation between Perkins and festival trustee Debbie Jamieson.
Lioness won this year’s Ockham Book Award and the Jan Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction.
The novel is set in Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds and tells the story of the unravelling of Therese Thorne as her wealthy developer husband’s business disintegrates.
Festival chairwoman Tanya Surrey said this year’s event would be the biggest held since the trust organised its first festival six years ago.
She recalled at the start the trustees were delighted to get 200 people along and were astounded by how the festival had thrived and grown.
This year there would be 31 events over four days, including for the first time, two events for Wānaka.
Rippon Hall and The Next Chapter bookshop would host A Feijoa Fixation with writer Kate Evans on October 31, while Wanaka Library would host A Children’s Author session with Gavin Bishop on November 1.
The 48-hour writing competition returns, with the Tamariki Prize offering $100 and the Open Category Prize offering $500 to the winners.
Authors and speakers include Auckland journalist Steve Braunias, who will be interviewed by Wānaka journalist Mike White (Sunday Star Times), and Auckland journalist Paddy Gower, who will talk about "The Cost of Telling the F#$%ing News" with Mountain Scene editor Tracey Roxburgh, of Queenstown.
Central Otago writer Kyle Mewburn is also on the programme with a talk titled "Surviving Bigotry and Central Otago Winters".
Rachel King, Harriet Allan, Pip Adams, Karyn Hay, Jude Dobson, Dr Jacinta Ruru, Claire Bayliss, Airana Ngarewa, Saraid de Silva and Jacquiline Bublitz are among those taking to the stage.
Remarkables Theatre will produce two one-act plays, and there will be poetry readings and workshops, including a sampler session for locals who want to share their own writing.
- For more info, bookings: qtwritersfestival.co.nz
