'Brokeback Mountain' author at writers' fest

Hastings' biannual Festival of Writers is on this weekend with plenty to feed the literary appetite.
The weekend starts with guests gathering at Clearview Estate to enjoy tapas-style morsels carefully matched with wine as wine writer John Saker and food writer Hester Guy entertain.
Festival chairperson Declan Eames said the committee was pleased with the line up and Hastings should be proud to be attracting top names like Annie Proulx. Proulx will be in New Zealand promoting her memoir and was best known for her novel The Shipping News and her short story, Brokeback Mountain.
Rumour has it she is also researching her next novel, including learning about kauri timber.
The main event of the festival is The Evening of Pleasure, featuring all the visiting writers. Poet Marty Smith will host the evening at The Assembly Room in the Hawke's Bay Opera House.
Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen, Proulx and New Zealand writer Owen Marshall will also each take part in free hour-long sessions.
"We get such great community support and it was important to put that back into the community," Mr Eames said.
It was also a testament to sponsors such as Endeavour Community Trust and Eastern and Central Community Trust that the festival could provide these opportunities free of charge, he said.
Top female poets Cilla McQueen and Jenny Bornholdt will be interesting, even for those who were not familiar with their poetry.
"It's often easier to engage with prose, but New Zealand punches above its weight with poetry," Mr Eames said. "This is an opportunity to engage with the writers and understand what motivates and inspires them."
This is his first year involved in the festival, which he saw as a way to contribute to the city, and to support literature.
"I wanted to give back to an area that's been good to me," he said.