“We are delighted to be playing host to these two very talented writers. We stock a number of their books and it will be wonderful to have them here with us in person. We hope the public will take advantage of this opportunity to talk with them and purchase signed copies of their books,” says Sue Sutherland, Christchurch City Libraries’ Manager.

James Brown has been described on the New Zealand Book Council web site as “…ever intent on disrupting the reader’s expectations. He wants to convey a sense of shock, surprise, discovery,” while Fiona Farrell is “energetic and original, delighting in unexpected juxtapositions and sudden shifts of scene or mood.”

James Brown’s poems have been widely published in magazines in both New Zealand (Landfall, Sport, NZ Listener, Metro, North & South) and Australia (Meanjin, Southerly, Overland). He is a past winner of the Takahe Poetry Competition and a former editor of the literary magazine Sport. Currently the Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury, James has won awards for his poetry - Go round power please won the Best First Book Award for poetry in the 1996 Montana NZ Book Awards. He also writes short fiction and his stories have appeared in Sport, Landfall, the Penguin anthology Zig-Zag, The Picnic Virgin and Boy’s Own Stories, and have also been broadcast on National Radio.

Fiona Farrell has published two collections of short stories - The rock garden and Light readings, two collections of poetry - Cutting out and The inhabited initial, and two novels - The skinny louie book and Six clever girls who became famous women.

She has also written several plays, children’s stories and assorted articles and criticism. Fiona has been the recipient of several awards, including the New Zealand Book Award for fiction and the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France. She is at present working on a third novel.