BWB Talks: The Dark Island

Join author Benjamin Kingsbury in Christchurch in conversation with Sally Blundell (chair) to celebrate the launch of his new book, The Dark Island: Leprosy in New Zealand and the Quail Island Colony.

From 1906 to 1925 Quail Island, in Lyttelton Harbour, was the site of New Zealand’s leprosy colony.

Benjamin will read from his book and discuss with Sally this little-known aspect of New Zealand’s past that sheds light on the treatment of some of society’s most desperate and isolated people.

Doors open 5.30pm.
All welcome, no RSVP required.

About the speakers
Benjamin Kingsbury was born in Auckland in 1987, and brought up in New Zealand and Pakistan. His first book, An Imperial Disaster: The Bengal Cyclone of 1876, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. He works as a historian for Te Arawhiti, the Office for Māori Crown Relations.

Sally Blundell is a senior journalist for the New Zealand Listener, based in Christchurch. She is the author of The No-nonsense Guide to Fair Trade.