Meri Kirihimete – here are our opening times and hours for the Christmas and New Year period.
The festival was run entirely online this year, with a variety of exclusive pre-recorded events and interviews for tamariki of all ages, plus a highly interactive role-playing game (RPG) suitable for bravehearts aged 14+.
The online delivery allowed us to run at all Covid-19 Levels, and bring you guests from not just around the motu, but around the world this year! There were prizes, and daily interactions via our Porirua Libraries Facebook Children’s Chat group.
All sessions (excluding Brindlewood Bay*) are available on to watch on our YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/c/poriruacity) or catch up with them below.
Videos will play from the date of the first session.
Charles (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata, Te Ati Awa) and Emily Looker share a passion for language and music, and tell stories and remind us of our cultural identity.
For younger children. Join Samoan author, publisher and creator, Dahlia Malaeulu for a special story time. Passionate about Pasifika children's stories, she will share one of her favourites.
Join award-winning author, poet, playwright, and storyteller extraordinaire Moira Wairama for a story of Maui, Aotearoa’s most famous mischief maker, with music from harpist Karen Jones.
Suitable for confident youth writers. Writing for Theatre - characters, plotting and the truth of your project. Tune into the Imagine This! Youth Writers’ Summit, where you’ll learn the basics of writing creatively. All sessions chaired by Riah Tahana-Dawson.
Join us for an interview with award-winning children’s author Leonie Agnew, discussing her newest book The Memory Thief.
Join our librarians for a bilingual reading of multi-award-winning Australian author/illustrator Jeannie Baker’s Mirror.
What is Poetry? - with special guest Lily Holloway. Suitable for confident youth writers. All sessions chaired by Riah Tahana-Dawson.
Highly recommended for age 14+. Multi-award-winning poet and doctor at the YOSS health clinic for young people in Horowhenua.
Suitable for confident youth writers. Fantasy - magic systems, high fantasy and modern fantasy, with special guest spot appearances. All sessions chaired by Riah Tahana-Dawson.
Join us for a conversation with multi-award-winning, international author Margriet Ruurs, for a conversation about her book Stepping Stones, A Refugee Family’s Journey.
With the help from our friends at Edible Earth Hampshire with WELLfed, we will learn to plant and grow our own little māra kai food garden.
In this session Dahlia Malaeulu, Samoan author and publisher of Mila's Books teaches our tamaiti to use their everyday worlds to inspire their own writing.
Join us for an interview with author, globetrotter, and creative writing teacher Eirlys Hunter about latest book The Uprising – The Mapmakers in Cruxcia.
What does it take to capture the attention of ngā tamariki? With special guest kōrero. Suitable for confident youth writers. All sessions chaired by Riah Tahana-Dawson.
Our festival openers return for an exclusive festival-closing gig. Book prizes for everyone who can name an Aro song for us.
