Hamilton Book Month: Writers share details of their research methods

Joanne Drayton is an acclaimed New Zealand author whose output is globally recognized. Photo / Supplied

Another free Hamilton Book Month event on today - Thursday, August 15 - is a Recipes and Research panel discussion chaired by Waikato foodie Denise Irvine.

On the panel are New Zealand gardening journalist, author, and broadcaster Lynda Hallinan, and acclaimed New Zealand author Joanne Drayton.

Irvine will chat to both women about their books and what they discovered doing their research.

The event is in the Long Room, at Wintec House in Anglesea Street, Hamilton, from 6.30pm to 8pm.

Hallinan, the author of five gardening books, is the former editor of NZ Gardener magazine and presenter of the TV show Get Growing, and a regular columnist.

She lives at Foggydale Farm in the Hunua Ranges, south-east of Auckland, with her husband, Jason, and two young boys, Lucas and Lachie, plus 14 free-range (as in somewhat wild-eyed) cattle, three dozen sheep, nine chooks, a kunekune pig, geriatric cat and hopeless cattle dog.

Her expansive (and ever growing) spray-free garden boasts more than 300 fruit trees, 40 vege beds and enough flowers to fill a small florist shop. She has quite a thing for English heritage damson plums.

Lynda Hallinan is a New Zealand gardening journalist, author, and broadcaster. Photo / Alun Callender

Drayton's output is globally recognized. Her book Hudson & Halls: The Food of Love was a cover story for the NZ Listener and was the Winner of the Royal Society Te Aparangi Award for General Non-fiction, Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, 2019.

Her book The Search for Anne Perry was numbered in the top 10 non-fiction books on the New York Times bestseller list in 2015, was a finalist in the NZ Book Awards in 2013; was the subject of a 60 Minutes programme; and a cover story for the NZ Listener.

Both The Search for Anne Perry and Hudson and Halls have been optioned for feature films.

Calling all writers who have written about Hamilton

Another free Hamilton Book Month event called Shaping Hamilton Writers is on Saturday, August 17 at the Waikato Museum at 1.30pm.

Anyone who has written poetry, fiction or non-fiction that has Hamilton as a subject is welcome to read their own or others' work on the day.

There's a four minute time limit and people intending to read should arrive by 1.15pm to sign up on the whiteboard.

• For more details of Hamilton Book Month events. See their website: www.hamiltonbookmonth.com and Hamilton Book Month on Facebook.