Several of Aotearoa’s favourite children’s writers will be amongst a stellar line up in the very first Books Alive programme to be staged in Waihōpai Invercargill in the immediate lead up to the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults this month. New funding from Mātātuhi Foundation has enabled organiser the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa to expand these large-scale, immersive events designed by literature experts for tamariki and rangatahi to three regional cities around the motu.

Rachael King, Stacy Gregg and Feana Tu‘akoi – all 2024 finalists in the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction – will join talented author/illustrators Ruth Paul, Steve Mushin and Rob Foote in a series of panels and workshops on 7 August. Local grants from ILT and Community Trust South covering bus transport will give hundreds of school children from around Invercargill and Southland access to these engaging sessions.

Steve, Stacy and Rachael will also be amongst the seven shortlisted authors and illustrators to entertain primary and intermediate students at morning and early afternoon Books Alive panels programmed by WORD Christchurch in Ōtautahi on 9 August.

And on the day of the ceremony 14 August in Pōneke, more than 20 of the finalists in the running for the awards have been programmed by the Wellington City Libraries team into a series of exciting lightning talks, behind-the-book sessions, live drawing and storytelling in the round, workshops and more. Sessions will take place at the National Library’s Tiakiwai Conference Centre in Molesworth Street and at Te Whare Pukapuka o Waitohi in Johnsonville.

Demand for these Books Alive events has been high, but there are some spaces left in all three centres. So teachers who are keen for their ākonga to get involved should contact Joy Sellen at booksalive@nzbookawards.org.nz with school name, contact details, the number of students the school would like to bring.

The Mātātuhi Foundation funding also means every child who attends a Books Alive event will receive a printed copy of the 2024 NZCYA activity booklet, packed with fun activities based on a selection of the 2024 finalist books, with a page set aside to gather author autographs. The booklet can also be downloaded from the awards website.