Between The Lines - Festival Finale

Join us for a celebration of local talent, featuring authors Shelley Burne-Field, Nafanua Purcell Kersel, Simon Burt, and Between The Lines Patron Charity Norman. This free annual event is the perfect way to close the festival, offering a delightful opportunity to hear from some of our most cherished local writers.

Ex-barrister Charity Norman was born in Uganda, raised and worked in the UK, and now calls Central Hawke’s Bay home. Her eight novels to date include BBC Radio 2, Richard and Judy and World Book Night titles, Ned Kelly and Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists, and have been translated into various languages. Her seventh, Remember Me, won Best Novel in the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards. Charity lives by the Tukituki river with her husband and two warring cats, and is delighted to be Patron of the Between the Lines Festival.

Nafanua Purcell Kersell (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) is a writer, poet and performer who was born in Sāmoa and raised in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. Her poetry has been widely published. She has an MA from the IIML and won the 2022 IIML Biggs Family Prize in Poetry for Black Sugarcane. Nafanua’s debut poetry collection Black Sugarcane has been described as “A radiant celebration of the heart and soul of Pacific life, language and legacy”. Reviewer Gina Cole went on to say that Nafanua “weaves emotion, culture and wit into words that hit you like a wave - sometimes gentle, sometimes crashing, but always leaving you bathed in feeling”.

Shelley Burne-Field (Samoa, Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Rarua, Pakeha) is a kaituhituhi - writer - from Te Matau-a-Maui Hawke's Bay. She writes articles and creative non-fiction as well as fiction of all sorts, including short stories. Brave Kāhu and the Porangi Magpie, published in 2024, is Shelley’s first children's story. Shelley’s story 'Speaking in Tongues' was the only New Zealand Finalist in the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her work is now in print in anthologies around the world,  and has appeared in Newsroom and on RNZ. Her story 'Pinching out Dahlias' is the most read short story published in Reading Room. Shelley is an alumni of the Master of Creative Writing from Auckland University 2020 and also Te Papa Tupu mentoring programme.

Simon Burt spent nearly half a century in film, advertising, publishing, writing, and web development, with a little bit of school teaching along the way. Now all he wants to do is scribble stuff! Route 52 was published in 2025 and Simon’s personal observations about people, places, and things on and around the back road between Masterton and Waipukurau have hit the mark with Route 52 reaching number 1 in the Nielsen Bookscan. Simon has a wife and two adult offspring, and a Fox Terrier called Meg.

This is a FREE event but tickets are limited so be sure to reserve your ticket now.