Festival programme delves deep into the natural world
Many New Zealanders will know Elisabeth Easther as Shortland Street’s infamous ‘psycho bitch’ nurse Carla Crozier.
But the accomplished actor and broadcaster is also a journalist, book critic, magazine editor, award-winning playwright – and now book editor.
On October 22 she will be on stage at the Granary Festival Cafe´ as part of the 2017 Nelson Arts Festival Page and Blackmore Readers and Writers programme to talk about the book of avian writing she has edited, Bird Words.
The book, a lively anthology of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, celebrates the birds of Aotearoa.
There are tales of shooting and taxidermy as well as of admiration and love. In its pages are stories of our kakapo, kokako and kaka, as well as the sparrow, starling and seagull.
Birds both native and introduced have been immortalised in print.
Easther, who has won awards for her work Seed (about fertility) and Famous Flora (about an infamous Auckland brothel madam) will be in conversation with Nelson playwright Michaelanne Forster, who wrote Daughters of Heaven – the play that became the movie Heavenly Creatures.
Easther will also be appearing at the Nelson Arts Festival with her theatre-in-development piece about Nelson conservationist Perrine Moncrieff.
Moncrieff, an environmental activist from the 1920s to the 1970s, recognised the links between different eco-systems and how flora, fauna and humans were interdependent.
She understood early on that conservation was an essential part of human existence.
Her most notable legacy was perhaps her part in helping to create the Abel Tasman National Park, accompanied by her special companion, a pet macaw. While set in the 20th century, Easther’s piece explores themes that are still pertinent today.
The natural world has also inspired others to put words on the page.
Cavers Marcus Thomas and Lauren Kelley will also be appearing to discuss Thomas’ and Neil Silverwood’s new book, Caves: Exploring New Zealand’s Subterranean Wilderness, in conversation with Potton and Burton publisher Robbie Burton.
The book features more than 300 pages of Silverwood’s stunning photographs as well as text, maps and diagrams, taking readers into 10 of the country’s most wondrous caves.
It also explores our cave history, including our own Harwoods Hole, the deepest in the southern hemisphere.
It also covers some of the technological advances that enable cavers to delve even further into the deep unknown.
Thomas has been playing in the dark and exploring caves since the age of 12.
A documentary on Nelson’s Nettlebed cave first inspired him and he has been passionate about the underground world ever since.
He spent many hours researching New Zealand cave maps; whenever a map featured question marks, it represented an opportunity for him to uncover unexplored territory.