I live in historic Port Chalmers, Otago, and my neighbour Andy Thompson happens to be a very talented photographer. We teamed up to create a photo essay about three historic Port Chalmers pubs that are still thriving today: The Portsider, Mackie's Hotel and Carey's Bay Hotel. After spending a lot of time interviewing the publicans and sifting through Papers Past, we are thrilled that our story, Local Legends, has been published in local magazine Down in Edin today. 

Read the Local Legends story here
See more of Andy's beautiful images here

I was honoured to be asked to read at Ōtepoti's National Flash Fiction Day today, where a group of local writers celebrated the shortest day by reading some extremely short fiction - the winners of the Flash Fiction and MIcro Madness competitions. 

I read the Micro Madness piece Donor, by Tim Saunders from Palmerston North. I chose to read Tim's piece because there were shades of human / animal connection, a hint of death and a sense of history and future all contained in 46 words. 
You can read all of the top Micro Madness stories here. 

The Micro Madness winner, Susan Wardell, read her winning story Tī kōuka to us.

I also #read Over the Fields from Ballyturin House, 1921, by Rose Collins of Canterbury. Rose won second prize in the flash fiction competition for her mysterious and haunting story about an IRA ambush in Ireland.  
​The full list of winners can be found here. 

It was a real treat hearing so many stories written, and read by, so many different writers. 

A huge thank you to the wonderful Iona Winter for organising the event. Thank you also to Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature, Otago University Press, Dunedin Libraries, the University Book Shop, and everyone else who contributed to the day. I'm already looking forward to next year's event!

I was thrilled ... and terrified ... to be invited to contribute to the Otago Daily Times and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature assignment 'the best book in the world'. 

The first three pieces appeared in the Otago Daily Times today, and a further three will appear next weekend. 

Naturally the best book in the world is my pick, Charlotte's Web, but E B White did face some pretty stiff competition in the form of The Third Policeman (argued for by David Loughrey) and The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (argued for by Emma Neale). 

Read the first instalment of The Best Book in the World here.