There are still places left in award-winning writer Fiona Farrell’s creative writing classes at Wanaka Spring Arts School in October.
Wanaka’s annual art school has been held every autumn for the past 33 years at Mount Aspiring College.
It has been cancelled only once, in 2020, because of Covid-19.
This year Covid was spreading rapidly through the region but organisers decided to postpone the event rather than cancel.
Autumn Art School co-ordinator Robyn van Reenen about 150 people had signed up to 14 classes and more registrations were expected ‘‘right up until the day’’.
‘‘We are really pleased to be able to run it and we have people coming from all over the country and Australia. We still have spaces in some really good classes.
‘‘We’ve got writing with Fiona Farrell and painting with cold wax — that’s a different technique but really interesting.
‘‘We have places in two jewellery classes— one enamel, the other using natural material — and we have places in fly-fishing and digital photography, beyond the default settings,’’ Mrs van Reenen said.
Farrell’s awards include the New Zealand Book Award, the Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the Burns Fellowship, the Rathcoola Residency (Ireland) and the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction (2007).
In 2012 she received the ONZM for services to literature.
The festival runs from October 10-14. There will be a public exhibition on October 14 from 1pm.
Next year, the Autumn Art School returns to its usual April slot.
