Verb Readers and Writers Festival has begun! We’ve studied the programme and compared notes with Kete’s reviewers to create a reading list for some of the Saturday and Sunday events at the festival.

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The event (and book title): Sight Lines The author: Kirsty Baker The review: Jade Kake writes this book ‘is a taonga’. Read more.

The event: How We Write: Whakapapa Māori The books and authors: Emma Hislop (Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Kāi Tahu) Ruin; Michelle Rahurahu (Ngaati Rahurahu, Ngaati Tahu-Ngaati Whaoa) Poorhara; Shilo Kino (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Te Ata) All That We Know and Talia Marshall (Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Takihiku) Whaea Blue. The reviews: Poorhara Whaea Blue All that We Know (also in te reo Māori) Ruin

The event: External Memory The book: Bad Archive The author: Flora Feltham The review: Becs Tetley writes ‘Feltham so beautifully illustrates, it is in the spaces between the things we leave behind where the real story exists.’ Read more.

The event: The People’s Game Rugby League Today The book: Rugby League in New Zealand The author: Ryan Bodman The review: Michael Burgess writes ‘a masterpiece of its genre’. Read more.

The event: The Annual NZSA Janet Frame Memorial Lecture The book: Laughing at the Dark The author: Barbara Else The review: ‘The most potent parts of the book are the most personal’ writes Linda Herrick. Read more.

The event: The Mermaid Chronicles Megan Dunn with Kim Hill The book: The Mermaid Chronicles The author: Megan Dunn The review: ‘Megan picks up her story in a fertility clinic, where – facing down 40, a dead-end office job and fluctuating feelings of inadequacy – her eggs are being assessed for IVF viability’ writes Claire Williamson. Read more.

The event: Writing Labour Histories The book: Blood and Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand The author: Jared Davidson The review: David Veart writes ‘this powerful book describes yet another hidden layer in the history of these islands’. Read more.

The event (and book and author): Talia Marshall: Whaea Blue The review: Jade Kake writes ‘I’m still trying to pin down my thoughts, which remain slippery, the story soaking through me and permeating through my skin. It will linger with you…’. Read more.

The event (and book and author): Susie Ferguson: Bloody Minded The review: ‘Susie Ferguson lays bare her violent experiences as a war correspondent – and her equally violent experiences of coming to grips with her severe endometriosis’ writes Claire Williamson. Read more.

The event (and book and author): Becky Manawatu: Kataraina The review: ‘For me the real triumph of Kataraina is Manawatu’s literariness and intensely lyrical writing,’ says reviewer Kelly Ana Morey. Read more.