Just days after his award-winning play thrilled a Wakatipu audience, Tom Scott’s confirmed he’ll be here in person later this year.
The cartoonist-turned-playwright’s famous for his satirical side-swipes — in 1982 he was
even banned from former New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon’s press conferences because of his cartoons.
His show, Daylight Atheist, was performed at Arrowtown’s Athenaeum Hall by Kiwi acting legend Michael Hurst last weekend.
Now the 72-year-old scribe’s confirmed he’ll be here for the Queenstown Writers Festival in November.
Festival chair Tanya Surrey says the committee’s ‘‘thrilled’’ Scott will be on the bill.
Two other additions to the line-up are Witi Ihimaera and Dame Fiona Kidman.
Ihimaera, who once refused a knighthood, is author of The Whale Rider, a novel that later
became a critically-acclaimed film.
Kidman’s one of New Zealand’s most celebrated authors with 30 books and 60 screen credits to her name.
She received a damehood in ‘88 for contributions to literature.
Surrey: ‘‘We are excited to have the opportunity to bring writers of this calibre to Queenstown.
‘‘All three writers are people that the local community asked us to invite to the festival and to our great delight our invitations were accepted.’’
The full line-up and list of venues are yet to be confirmed, but Surrey’s hoping for a successful second year.
The 2020 festival’s being held from November 6 till 8.
It’ll also include writing workshops focusing on crime and historical fiction.
– Matthew McKew, Mountain Scene
Cartoonist and playwright Tom Scott. PICTURE: JOHN CRAWFORD