Name: QWF | Programme Launch 2025
Start: 2025-08-31T06:00:00+12:00
End: 2025-08-31T08:00:00+12:00
Location: Te Atamira

To celebrate the launch of the Queenstown Writers Festival 2025 Programme, acclaimed artist Dick Frizzell will discuss his memoir Hastings with Central Otago’s own Sir Grahame Sydney in what is likely to be an enthralling conversation.
The childhood memoir Hastings, is Dick Frizzell’s fifth book. It includes 30 short stories each conjuring a moment of his Hawke’s Bay childhood surrounded by a clan of Frizzells. It is a boy’s own adventure and a love letter to a small regional town and Frizzell’s parents. Hastings is funny, big-hearted and sharply drawn.
Sydney, who has famously painted Central Otago’s landscapes over several decades, was knighted in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to art. He is also the author of several books and says Frizzell’s colourful personality shines through his writing. Sydney can’t remember when the pair first met and had always thought it unlikely - Sydney being a “little faraway regionalist painter from the insignificant south”, while Frizzell was a “trendy, contemporary, up and out there famous Aucklander.”
Tickets include Dick Frizzell in conversation with Sir Grahame Sydney, wine, canapés, and an exclusive preview of this year's Queenstown Writers Festival programme. There is also the option to purchase a ticket-book combo and collect your copy of Hastings at the event.
Queenstown Writers Festival is grateful for the support of Craigs Investment Partners, The Rees Hotel, Two Paddocks Wine, Whitestone Cheese, and Massey University Press who have helped make this event possible.
About the Queenstown Writers Festival:
Held over three days – from 31 October to 2 November at Te Atamira – this year’s festival includes literary legends, memoir writers, non-fiction writers, crime writers, historical fiction novelists, and illustrators. In addition to on-stage conversations, there will be writing workshops, fascinating panel discussions, a book launch, library events and the return of the popular 48-hour writing competition.