Plumbing the depths with award-winning writer in Whanganui

Writer Vivienne Plumb will be in Whanganui to read her work during the La Fiesta festival this month. Photo/Supplied

Vivienne Plumb is a multi-award-winning writer of poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction based in Wellington.

After spending most of 2018 in Berlin on a Creative NZ writer's residency, she is now on a New Zealand reading tour and will be in Whanganui to join the La Fiesta programme this month.

She has published more than 20 books, including the non-fiction Twenty New Zealand Playwrights and a compilation of her most popular fiction pieces As Much Gold as an Ass Could Carry.

While living in Berlin, Plumb was working on her new creative nonfiction book, The Nürnberg Nanny, and completing a new collection of poetry, Lotus, to be published soon.

The Nürnberg Nanny is based on the experiences of her late mother Isabel Harley, of Island Bay, who lived in Nürnberg before the outbreak of WWII.

Australian-born Plumb has been described as a writer who is able to "highlight the fantastic and miraculous in everyday experience."

Plumb initially trained as an actor before discovering her talent for writing and her plays have been performed in New Zealand and international venues.

Her first novel, Secret City, was published in 2003 and she has held several residencies, including one in 2004 at the University of Iowa and the 2006 Massey University writers' residency.

She has had poetry, fiction and drama translated into Mandarin, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, and soon, Macedonian.

Reading by Vivienne Plumb: 2pm, Sunday, February 17 at The Ladies Rest, 75 St Hill St. For more information call or text Airini Beautrais on 027 636 3290 or email airinibeautrais@gmail.com