Author Talk - Anne Kayes on 'In Our Own Backyard'

Join author Anne Kayes, as she discusses and reads from her new YA novel, 'In Our Own Back Yard'. All welcome.

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‘Anne Kayes’ book addresses significant turning points in New Zealand history – the 1981 Springbok rugby tour and the pandemic which impacted on us in 2020. In order to continue moving forward as a society, we must learn from these experiences.’
– Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1999-2008

It’s March 2020 and Liza, her husband and two teenage children are at home in Auckland level-four lockdown due to Covid-19. Reflections with her family around the dining table inspire Liza to reflect on another challenging time in history – nearly forty years before – when the South African rugby team toured New Zealand.

Casting her memory back to 1981, Liza recalls her life as a fifteen-year-old, including her first love, friendships, first-hand experiences of racism, and what it means – and what it costs – to find your voice and use it.

In Our Own Backyard is a startling, confronting portrait of a society divided. Anne Kayes has written a masterful YA novel that considers questions of human equality that are as pertinent in the twenty-first century as they were in 1981.

Anne Kayes is the author of 'Tui Street Tales' (Scholastic, 2016) which won the 2016 Storylines’ Tom Fitzgibbon Award and Tui Street Heroes (Wilding Books, 2019). She is an ex-drama and English teacher who loves going into schools talking about her writing and connecting with students.