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Writers in Schools

• Cut-off dates for bookings
• Extra visits and writing workshops
  
• Additional important information
• How to prepare for a Writers in Schools visit
  
• Booking form
• Feedback form

Writing Heroes Get Kids Reading

Each year the New Zealand Book Council's Writers in Schools programme sends top Kiwi writers into schools to inspire and encourage young readers. The programme is supported by funding from Creative New Zealand.

Since 1974, the programme has provided free school visits for Book Council members, encouraging the dreams of several generations of New Zealand students, in schools across the country.

This programme encourages the imagination and develops writing skills in children by employing over 200 leading New Zealand writers.

The Book Council offers member schools the opportunity to apply for one half-day sponsored writer visit a year, which includes $100 worth of author travel by any means. Visits are allocated each term on a first come best-served basis, and there are a limited number of visits each term. This means that occasionally we will need to cut the term off early (without warning), so if you know at the beginning of the year that you want a visit in Term 4, please don't hesitate to apply immediately. Schools can request additional visits at the full cost.

If you want to receive a visit from a writer, you must be a member of the New Zealand Book Council. If you would like to join us, please go through to our online subscription page. For any other school membership queries, please email schoolmembers@bookcouncil.org.nz.

2013 cut-off dates for bookings

There are no further visits available in 2012.
There is a cut-off date each term in 2013 for visit requests (unless visits run out prior), which we ask schools to note:

Term 1 visits: Friday 16 November 2012
Term 2 visits: Friday 8 March 2013
Term 3 visits: Friday 14 June 2013
Term 4 visits: Friday 30 August 2013

To arrange a visit, member schools contact the Book Council using the booking form. Please use the link through to see further details.

Before booking an author, we recommend you read all the information on this page to fully understand how visits are arranged and the additional costs that apply in some instances. It is important that schools do not contact or pay the writer directly.

If you have any questions with regards your visit which you have booked using the form, please contact Emma at wis@bookcouncil.org.nz.

Extra Visits and Workshop Costs

All schools that belong to the New Zealand Book Council are eligible to request one free half-day visit a year.

Should you wish to host a writer for a longer period or have a targeted workshop, we can arrange this for you at an extra cost as listed below. Any extra costs will be invoiced to your school at the conclusion of the visit, and we will ensure you are aware of these prior to the visit taking place.

Prices:

Extra half-day added to free half-day: $80
2nd subsequent half-day visit: $240
Full day visit: $300
Workshop* fee: $50
Extra travel costs: We allow $100 per school visit for this purpose. If your writer is not local, you will be required to pay additional costs. For a second visit, you will need to pay full travel costs.

Additional important information

Travel Costs: If you request an author to visit from author outside your local area, author travel costs may exceed the $100 we allocate for travel in free visits. The additional travel costs will be invoiced to the school. These can be reduced if the author's visit is part of a school tour of your area.

Author tours: these allow schools to share the additional travel costs associated with school visits from authors based outside the region. Tours currently being arranged can be found on our education events calendar and you are welcome to put in a request for your school to be added to the author tour.

Workshops: any classroom session where the author is helping students to produce work is considered a workshop. This requires additional preparation time by the author and the cost of this is invoiced to the school. Please review the section Extra Visits and Workshop Costs above for details for these costs.