EVENTS:
NZSA Northland Branch meeting
Tuesday 3 November 2026, 7.30 pm, via Zoom
Secretary, Trish Fenton, will send the Zoom link with the agenda.
POETS@ONEONESIX
Wednesday 18 November 2026, 5.30 – 7.30pm
116a Bank Street Whangārei.
INTERMISSIONS
Nick Grew & Piet Nieuwland & friends Uku Orchestra & poetry,
May Bain Room, Whangarei Library, Friday 13 November, 12-1pm
BOOK LAUNCH!
NZSA member, Toni Daly, writing as Lindy Kato, has now completed her trilogy. Come along to NorthTec and join members of our writing community for the launch on Monday 2 November! And also celebrate the last writer to come through the Level 7 NorthTec Applied Writing course before it closed for good – the last of its kind. There’s an obituary for this and all the other wonderful writing courses in the recent NZ Author magazine Spring 2026 Issue 346.
ACTS OF DEFIANCE
Eight years of treatment for a condition she never had, has rendered Lindy dispirited and obese – her doctor warning her this will shorten her time on Earth.
Turning to her bucket list, she stages a fightback to reclaim her life – or at least make good on the time she has left, starting with an assault on a mountain that’s been on her mind since the age of seven.
Praise for Bleak Expectations – “A poignant and heartrending look at misdiagnoses and a damning spotlight on a broken mental health care system.” Amazon Review
CONGRATULATIONS!
to our own Sue Barker!
Sue was Highly Commended in the Katherine Mansfield Sparking Prose Short Story Competition: If this is all there is, it is enough by Susan Barker
https://atthebay.org/sue-barker-if-this-is-all-there-is-it-is-enough
https://atthebay.org/sparkling-prose-katherine-mansfield-story-competition
Report from Sue:
On the 138th anniversary of Katherine Mansfield’s birth, a room full of writers and their supporters gathered in the house in which she was born to hear readings and find out the winner of the At the Bay | I Te Kokoru Sparkling Prose competition.
At the Bay | I Te Kokoru is a short fiction platform and the theme for this year’s competition was ‘wild places’, inspired by the Mansfield quote ‘The mind I love must have wild places.’
Harry Ricketts began the readings by reciting a ballad, a Philip Larkin poem, then his own response to it; Chris Tse read from his new collection ‘Dance-Floor Romance’; Elizabeth Cox explored how the 1890s Wellington of her book ‘Mr Ward’s Map’ was a wild place full of pubs, entertainment (including the circus), fierce tug of war competitions and more.
Janis Freegard, Leanne Comer and David Coyle, who all have books recently published or due to be published, gave readings, then each of the shortlisted writers who were present gave a taste of their story.
Judges Vivienne Plumb and Tim Jones then gave some insight into their selection process and announced the place getters, including winner C.P. McCaffrey with ‘Beyond the Dunes.’
The shortlisted stories and the judges comments are now up on the At the Bay | I Te Kokoru website, find them at: https://atthebay.org/sparkling-prose-katherine-mansfield-story-competition/
Celebrating contemporary writing in Aotearoa was the perfect way to mark Katherine Mansfield’s birthday, so thank you to Michelle Elvy and the At the Bay | I Te Kokoru team for the opportunity to participate in this event.
SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS
Northland Schools’ Sections
The winning stories in the Northland High School and Year 7- 8 sections have now been published on our website, for your reading pleasure!
https://northlandauthors.co.nz/competition-details-and-results/
Congratulations to our talented young Northland authors. We look forward to the stories being shared throughout Northland when they’re published in The Northern Advocate, and nationwide when they’re published by NZME online during the summer holiday season.
Open Nationwide Section
The long list will be announced on 5 November 2026. Watch this space: https://northlandauthors.co.nz/
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)
https://www.facebook.com/NZSANorthlandBranch (Public)
Submit your news, including events, awards, recent publications and book launches to: northlandauthors[at]gmail.com for inclusion in our monthly newsletter.
Free for financial members. 50 cents per word for non-members.
Check for further updates on: https://northlandauthors.co.nz/
“Some days it’s not worth chewing the leather straps off the straitjacket, is it?”
Midnight in the Garden of Okay and Meh
Katie MacAlister.
