WW1 Voices - Harcourts Hawkes Bay Arts Festival

Inspired by a folder of letters, a notebook and a set of handmade postcards, Anna Mackenzie followed a family story into the trenches and archives of the Great War. She shares her journey into and beyond the war, focusing particularly on the war stories often ignored: the role of the medical services, of women, of those tasked with ‘mopping up’.

Mackenzie’s critically acclaimed novel Evie’s War explores WWI through the eyes of a naive young New Zealander. Her next novel follows the story of three damaged men whose work lies in bringing in the dead.

Anna Mackenzie writes historical, contemporary and speculative fiction, edits magazines and teaches creative writing. She wrote her first book when she was six – and is very glad her mother kept it! Her nine titles have netted her seven Notable Book Awards, an NZ Post Honour Award and Sir Julius Vogel Award. She lives on a farm in Hawke’s Bay and is Vice-President of the NZ Society of Authors.