It is hard to believe that two years have gone by since we lost one of New Zealand’s favourite and most acclaimed writers. Margaret Mahy will long be remembered as a great author and storyteller.

What better way to honour her memory, in her home town of Christchurch, than with a memorial lecture? Every festival we will invite a great imaginative writer to deliver a lecture in Margaret Mahy’s name on the topic of imagination. WORD Christchurch is thrilled to welcome speculative fiction writer Elizabeth Knox as presenter of the inaugural Margaret Mahy Lecture, entitled ‘An Unreal House Filled with Real Storms’. Elizabeth will be introduced by children’s author and literary activist, Kate de Goldi.