Rachael will be appearing in Taupo on July 31st as part of the Erupt festival. She’ll be talking at the Hilton about the writing life and how she came to write her novels The Sound of Butterflies and Magpie Hall. She may even read from her current work-in-progress. For tickets and more information, go here.

Rachael will be in conversation with author Lloyd Jones in Christchurch on Wednesday July 27 at the Cashmere Club. They’ll be discussing Michael King, Rachael’s father, and his recently released The Silence Beyond: Selected Writings, which Rachael has co-edited and introduced. For more information on the event go here. For more a review of The Silence Beyond, go here.

The Press Christchurch Writers Festival is running from September 9-12 at the Christchurch Town Hall. Rachael will be appearing alongside Australian author Kirsten Reed and veteran of lovely books Barbara Trapido in a session entitled Good Stories on Friday September 10 at 3.30. For more information about what they will be discussing, go here.

I have great pleasure in announcing that Sarah Laing has won the award for the best book cover at the PANZ Book Design Awards for Magpie Hall! Sarah was a pleasure to work with and is an amazingly talented designer, illustrator and writer. Visit my blog for more about Sarah.

Rachael will be appearing at a FREE event at the Auckland Writers’ Festival on Saturday, May 15, at the Upper NZI Room, Aotea Centre at 11.30, alongside Paula Morris. The two authors will be discussing their latest work and what it means to be a working novelist today. For more information, go here.