EVENTS:
NZSA Northland Branch meeting
Tuesday 7 April 2026, via Zoom
Secretary, Trish Fenton, will send the Zoom link with the agenda.
POETS@ONEONESIX
116a Bank Street Whangārei
Wednesday 18 April, 5.30 – 7.30pm
Featuring guest poet Peter Bakowski, touring from Australia.
Fast Fibres Poetry Submissions
Send 3 of your poems plus a 2 line bio to fastfibres@live.com by 29 May.
Fast Fibres Poetry 13 Cover Competition
Theme: Happiness
This is your chance to have your artwork featured on the cover of the
Fast Fibres Poetry 13th Edition.
Submission details: • A4 size artwork • Submit as a digital file • Include your name, artwork title, medium & contact details
Prize: • $100 voucher • Recognition in the published Fast Fibres 13th edition
Send entries to: kiaora@creativenorthland.com by 29 May 2026
OPPORTUNITIES:
National Flash Fiction Day 2026 – Submit this month!
- The competition closes April 30 at midnight
- The 2026 NFFD judges are Ingrid Horrocks and Louise Wallace
- The 2025 NFFD youth judge is Josiah Morgan
Details at nationalflash.org/competition
Read interviews with the judges at Flash Frontier
Rachel Smith talks with 2026 NFFD judges Ingrid Horrocks and Louise Wallace
Neema Singh talks with 2026 NFFD youth judge Josiah Morgan
LOCAL EVENT:
National Flash Fiction Day 2026
CELEBRATION!
Come join us at the Judge House of Ale
Walton Street, Whangarei
Monday June 22nd 2026 at 5.30pm
Flash and poetry readings
Prizes announced
Food and drink available to purchase
Door prize
RSVP
Whangareilibrary3.30flash@gmail.com
MEMBERS’ BOOKS LAUNCHED:
Yellow Flower
Congratulations, Alice Fairlie!
From Covid to the End Game The Luciferian Agenda
Congratulations Tracey Schubert on the launch of your trilogy!
INVITATION:
Postponed because of severe weather.
New date: Saturday 18 April, 2.00 – 4.00 pm
Main Hall, The Cornerstone Church, 144 Kerikeri Rd, Kerikeri
Members may contact lynn.jenner2@gmail.com for an invitation.
There will be poems from Elaine Webster, Viv Thonger, Jac Jenkins, Shelley Arlidge and Volha Kastsiuk as well as some from Lynn’s new collection.
A celebration of Northland poetry and poets!
BOOK LAUNCH
Bleak Expectations by Lindy Kato (Toni K Daly)
12 Noon, 4 May 2026
Outside NorthTec campus café
A sequel to Desperate Times
A true story of a nurse’s training and career which ends in tragedy.
The question: “What happened next?”
The answer: “Unbelievable.”
Bleak Expectations costs $30 cash or your phone can do the magic thing.
Desperate Times is available for $25. Or a special deal, $50 for both.
Lindy anticipated fewer bedpans in psychiatric nursing but hadn’t counted on the kind of trauma that would leave her mostly hammock bound through the antipodean summer of 1996/7.
Intrusive thoughts reveal a troubling adolescence, implying her nursing career didn’t start the fire, but rather provided the spark. Trusting the mental health team to find the right chemicals to balance her mind becomes part of the problem rather than the solution, and Lindy, now horribly overweight and with a health team that appears to have given up, ceases to care. But then someone steps up. Lindy begins the fight to restore her health and, ultimately, her voice.
CONGRATULATIONS!
The Night Tiger by Sherryl Clark and Hannah Sommerville
The Night Tiger is a picture book that has taken 15 years to come to fruition. It began as a story in poems, was originally contracted by Allen and Unwin in 2015, and then Sherryl waited and waited until finally the original illustrator had to be replaced. Now Hannah Sommerville has taken this poetic story and made it so special and stunning, with shadows and moonlight and a tiger that is fearsome and cuddly by turns. A perfect story about courage, imagination and daring, perfect for bedtime reading.
Published by Allen and Unwin, 3 March 2026
Available from: All good bookshops
Price: Hardback $27.99
ISBN: 9781760113421
Note from Lesley Marshall: I bought The Night Tiger and my granddaughter read it to herself, and then insisted I read it because it was so lovely, and then her brother immediately wanted to take it to school for his teacher to read. Apparently it was popular there too. Gorgeous illustrations and fabulous, evocative text with not a wasted word.
RAFFLE: THE BOOKLOVER’S BLANKET
Raising funds for Northland Branch so we can support our local writers, and in particular our one-day hui coming up on Indie Publishing. (See our website if you’re keen on joining us: https://northlandauthors.co.nz/ )
$5 per ticket, four chances for $10, 8 for $15, 20 for $20. Please email Lesley Marshall at editline@xtra.co.nz with how many tickets you’ve bought and evidence of payment.
The raffle will be drawn at the hui in May. It can be posted free to anywhere in NZ.
Please pay into NZSA Northland Branch with your name, and Blanket Raffle as reference
06 0493 0251640 00
Lovingly needle-felted by NZSA Northland foundation member, Lesley Marshall. The wool is all either pure merino, or a merino-silk mixture.
INTRODUCING:
NZSA Northland member, Fraser Smith
THE ISSUE OF GETTING STUFF FINISHED
Since the last book in my trilogy was published by Huia in late 2024 (Awatea’s Secret) I have begun writing three different batches of stories. One for relaxation and a laugh, is a kind of biography… the stumbling block here is libel laws, even if I do change the names. Another is a group of short stories/cum long poetic pieces that pop up anytime. The last is another fiction piece that is based on the first brief meeting of tangatawhenua and a European sailing ship.
In this I am exploring old Māori values and how Māori society lived before the coming of the pakeha. The stumbling block here is that in all my previous books, I am writing within lived experiences. I have some experience in living with grandparents and a Māori world view sixty-five years ago, but research is continual. Learning happens just in time!
Editing my work is a continual time-consuming joy. I have never worked so hard as a writer! So on a rainy day when I have no excuses, or I have dreamed up another subplot during the night, I sneak off and lose myself in it for the day… but if I write 2000 words, a decent edit might trim it down to half. Getting close now.
SHARING NZSA NORTHLAND BRANCH NEWS AND EVENTS:
Share with us on our Facebook Pages for NZSA Northland
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1618171775233622 (Private members’ group)
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Submit your news, including events, awards, recent publications and book launches to: northlandauthors[at]gmail.com for inclusion in our monthly newsletter.
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Check for further updates on: https://northlandauthors.co.nz/
Northland Branch 