Re-creating history|Tess Redgrave & Sandra Arnold

Writers Tess and Sandra talk to Maxine Alterio about the process of writing historic fiction

Tess Redgrave has worked as a journalist, writer and editor for organisations such as the Reader’s Digest, North & South magazine and the University of Auckland. She has published a non-fiction book going the distance: women outdoors in New Zealand (Tandem Press 2002) and her debut novel Gone to Pegasus (Mākaro Press 2018). Gone to Pegasus is set in Dunedin and the surrounding Otago landscape in 1892-93. The story covers a pivotal time in New Zealand history as the struggle for women to get the vote is gathering momentum. Queenstown’s Eichardt’s Hotel, its much-loved owner Mrs Julia Eichardt and the surrounding Cold Lakes’ mountain landscape play a central role in the novel.

Sandra Arnold is an award-winning writer with a PhD in Creative Writing from Central Queensland University, Australia and is the author of five books. Her most recent are a novel, The Ash, the Well and the Bluebell and a flash fiction collection, Soul Etchings. Her short fiction has been widely published in New Zealand and internationally. Sandra's work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction. She was a recipient of a Robert Lord Writers Cottage Residency in 2020 to complete a collection of flash fiction, Below Ground.

Maxine Alterio is a bestselling novelist, short story writer and award-winning academic mentor. Her books include Live News and Other Stories (2003), Ribbons of Grace (2007), Lives We Leave Behind (2012) and The Gulf Between (2019). She is currently working on a collection of short stories.

This event will take place in the Workshop Room at the Sherwood. The Workshop Room is located behind Reception.

Queenstown Writers Festival
5 – 8 November 2020
Celebrating words, literature and reading in the Queenstown Lakes.