8 May 2006
Wellington Children Take Literary Flight
Children’s imaginations will be taking flight from Wellington classrooms during an upcoming writer tour of the region.
The New Zealand Book Council’s the sky is the limit when you read programme provides writer visits to schools in low
decile or geographically isolated regions of New Zealand.
As part of the programme, celebrated children’s writers Fleur Beale, David Hill and Annie Rae Te Ake Ake will be
visiting 24 schools around Wainuiomata, Wellington’s Eastern Suburbs and Porirua, between 22–26 May. They will work with
groups of children to help foster a love of reading and writing, and will also run an afternoon workshop for aspiring
young writers and illustrators.
Fleur Beale is delighted to be taking part in the tour. ‘Programmes such as this, which encourage reading, are
invaluable. Adult readers begin as kids who love books.’
David Hill says the school tours inspire the writers as well as the students. ‘It’s great to hear and share stories from
kids who have such an amazing range of backgrounds and experiences. I go away from such tours with my little green
notebook full of story possibilities.’
Parents, care-givers and book-loving adults can also hear the writers reading and discussing their work during a free
event at Pataka Community Meeting Room, Porirua on Wednesday 24 May, from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.
the sky is the limit when you read takes three New Zealand children’s writers to a different region each term. It is
co-ordinated by the Book Council as part of its Writers in Schools programme and is funded by the Ministry of Education.
The Book Council is a not-for-profit organisation focused on bringing books and people together.
ENDS