Writers on Mondays – On the road: Gina Butson and Micheller Rahurahu
Victoria University Press presents a series of events highlighting the very latest work of Aotearoa New Zealand writers. A lively and stimulating way to begin the week.
Two debut novelists discuss their road-trip stories that explore running away and finding yourself in the world.
Mon 7 Jul 2025, 12.15–1.15pm
Rongomaraeroa, the marae, Level 4
Free event with museum entry
You can run, but you can’t hide … or can you?
In their exciting debut novels, International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) graduates Gina Butson and Michelle Rahurahu push their characters out into the world to find out.
Rahurahu’s Poorhara sees cousins Star and Erin road-tripping in an unwarranted 1994 Daihatsu Mira. Her novel won the Hubert Church Prize for Best First Book of Fiction at this year's Ockham Book Awards.
In The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds, Butson’s Thea traverses the globe, seeking and hiding from her own truths. Butson won the 2024 Salient Creative Writing Competition.
Sue Orr chairs the conversation about escape, discovery, and the journey of finding yourself.
Left to right: Michelle Rahurahu and Gina Butson, photos by Ebony Lamb Photographer