Cassie Hart – Stand in the place where you are

6pm to 8pm, Tues, 23 September

In the same way that our surroundings shape us, a good setting shapes a character as well. Come and learn what to put in, and what to leave out when creating vibrant and evocative locations for your stories. No matter the genre, shape, or age range. From the factual to the fantastical.

In this workshop, learn how to ground your character in whatever world or setting they inhabit, and how to bring that setting to life in a vibrant and evocative way.

Cassie Hart is a multi-award-winning Māori (Kāi Tahu, Makaawhio) speculative fiction writer who enjoys delving into human nature in all its beauty and disarray. In 2022 her tradtional debut, Butcherbird, won Best Novel for the Sir Julius Vogel awards, and in other years she has been an SJV winner in a range of categories, as well as a Hugo and Australian Shadow Awards finalist. In 2018 she was selected as one of six emerging Māori writers to participate in the Te Papa Tupu incubator programme, where she worked on Butcherbird, a supernatural suspense set under the watchful gaze of Mount Taranaki. Butcherbird released from Huia in August 2021. As well as self-publishing a range of novellas and novels, Cassie has co-edited three short story anthologies, worked as a freelance editor for almost a decade, and is always looking for new ways to collaborate with others.