Writers' tea party set to be a 'total delight'

The Writers’ Tea Party in Amberley’s Hurunui Memorial Library has hosted novelists, children’s authors, journalists, filmmakers, and musicians.

All have been deeply invested in the arts, while the audience is made up of readers, writers, bookworms and people who just enjoy a party.

For Bernie Hall, an author and poet from Amberley Beach, the event is a "total delight".

"The party is a gift to the Amberley community from the Friends of the Library, as well as being a fundraiser for improvements to the library," she says.

Hall will chair this year’s event on Sunday, October 13.

The Writers’ Tea Party is an informal affair that provides the opportunity for interaction between the guests and audience over a cuppa and afternoon tea put on by the Friends in the intimate setting of the children’s section of the library.

She says guests love the tea party.

"It is really lovely, and there is a real interconnection," Hall says.

"It is more like a discussion when it’s opened up for question time after each guest has spoken for 25 minutes each."

Hall has chaired every Tea Party since 2009. There has been only one cancellation, which was in 2021 due to Covid.

Every year it has been supported by the Hurunui Arts Council.

And each time it has provided valuable funds for the coffers of the district’s libraries.

Hall says from the start the decision was made that the local literary festival would not be expensive, there would be three guests, one of whom would be a poet, and each would have significant time to entertain their audience.

The October 13 writer’s party will feature Rachael King, Ciaran Fox and Lily Duval.

King is a nationally awarded writer who lives in Otautahi.

Her most recent book is The Grimmelings, a fantasy novel for children which has received rave reviews and is available in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Fox is a poet, a photographer, an editor and a mainstay of performance poetry in Otautahi.

He regularly appears with musicians at arts and literary festivals and is the host of Poetry Slam in Christchurch.

Lily is an artist, writer, and builder. Her own 14sq m tiny home was designed around her bookcases.

Living in Lyttelton, she has a passion for insects.

Her book Six-legged Ghosts has just been published by Canterbury University Press.

Tickets to The Writers’ Tea Party, which runs from 2pm to 4pm at the Hurunui Memorial Library on Carters Rd, are $5 per person.