We’re delighted to announce Queenstown Writers Festival’s first official charity partner, Kiwi Christmas Books. We can think of no better way to share our love of story telling and the joy of reading than to get more books into the hands of young New Zealanders.
Kiwi Christmas Books provides brand-new books to families who can’t afford to buy Christmas presents for their kids. Journalist and author Sonya Wilson founded the charity while studying creative writing at the University of Auckland. She wanted to address the fact that while some Kiwi kids grow up in houses filled with books, others have none.
‘Many people are struggling,’ Sonya says. ‘We want to be able to provide as many families as we can with great Kiwi books to give their kids. For many, it is their very first book, for others it is their very first Christmas present.’
She continues, ‘Reading is hugely beneficial to young people. In books kids can travel into other worlds, into other heads, into experiences that might otherwise be out of their reach…Books are a taonga, enriching the lives of children who often must go without.’
We completely agree with Sonya, and that’s why at this year’s Queenstown Writers Festival we will donate 10 per cent of the proceeds from all our book sales to this fantastic charity, as well as collecting donations. In Queenstown the books are distributed through Happiness House, one of our favourite charities.
Great stories make great kids and we are proud to be able to support the work of Kiwi Christmas Books. It’s really important to us to go beyond bringing writers and readers together at festival events – we aim to support literacy generally and provide educational opportunities too. We’re thrilled to be working with this wonderful charity to give the gift of books to our local tamariki at Christmas time.
We’re celebrating Queenstown Writers Festival 2022 over three days from 11 to 13 November. Join us then!
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