Lynne Hansen is a horror artist who specializes in book covers. She loves creating art that tells a story and that helps connect publishers, authors, and readers. Her art has appeared on the cover of the legendary Weird Tales Magazine, and her clients [...]

A guided session to get you underway with your story idea. Homework to bring on the day Jot down a story idea, just two sentences. Don't overthink it. Note it down, then put it aside. Don't bring a well-developed idea or half written [...]

Jack is a writer of flash fiction and micro-fiction. He credits these with keeping him sane through trying times and fighting with Facebook’s ad manager. Jack has been published in numerous anthologies and online magazines, and his novella-in-flash ‘Latter Day Saints’ was published in [...]

Jenny is a word wizard with a magic spell for writers: ”No hocus pocus. Simply focus”. Focus on the idea. Focus on the observation. Focus on the emotion. Focus on the words. Though Jenny doesn’t shirk the serious, it’s the sheer fun of [...]

Don’t miss our first panel discussion in our Creative Conversations series. To navigate our future, we must first understand our past. This is an invitation to hear how four Bay of Plenty writers and storytellers make history come alive. And whose books and [...]

A presentation of hard-won, inside secrets by bestselling writer and lecturer John Wareham. He will share how to apply his nifty, five-step formula to create an engaging memoir that readers will delight in remembering you by. John ‘s memoir ‘Exposed, a Schooldays Memoir’ [...]

CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 2nd of 3 PANEL SERIES ‘Sharing Stories – Spreading the Word’ Come along and hear how books find their readers. We’ve lined up a bookseller, a publisher, a self-published author, and a book buyer for libraries to share their insights. Bring [...]

Sharon will be exploring point-of-view, and all the techniques to make our readers see from inside our characters’ heads. This includes show not tell, filtering, action beats and dialogue, head-hopping, internal thought/dialogue, and more. A multi-award nominated author of YA fantasy fiction books, [...]

This session explores the role monsters play in modern urban fantasy as a reflection of modern thinking of inclusion, diversity, and equity. Monsters are a metaphor for the human condition: vampires are our quest for immortality, zombies are our rejection of a meaningless [...]

Creative Conversations 3rd of 3 Panel Series Four writers from diverse sections of our society share experiences of writing about themselves and their communities. What obstacles have they encountered and has their narrative been a tool in breaking down divisions in society? Sunday [...]