Acclaimed author and historian Dr. Monty Soutar will be visiting Tūrangi tonight to share the extraordinary journey behind his bestselling Kawai trilogy of historical novels.
The event, organised in part by Lewis Dawson of Naylor's Bookshop, will take place at Tongariro Junction Accommodation with doors opening at 6:30pm and the presentation beginning at 7pm.
Dr. Soutar told Lake FM his presentation would reveal the challenges he faced in creating the popular series. "I've been asked to talk about my journey as to why and how I wrote these books and it pretty much is nothing short of a miracle," he said. "I really will be enlightening people on just the challenges that I face putting it together but if you're ever looking for an inspirational story this is one of them."
The Kawai trilogy has enjoyed remarkable commercial success, with both released volumes reaching number one on bestseller lists. The first book, "Kawai: For Such a Time as This," explores pre-European Māori life, while the second examines early colonisation from the 1820s to the 1840s.
"Most people don't have access or an understanding of what life might have been like before Europeans came here, so I think that's why that one took off particularly," Dr. Soutar explained when discussing the popularity of his first volume.
The second book, released last year, "looked at the early colonisation of New Zealand from pretty much the 1820s to 1840s which was the signing of the treaty," he added. "People get to see the first impacts of things like musket warfare, diseases that came on ships and religion and its impact."
Dr. Soutar is currently in the midst of writing the third and final instalment of the trilogy. "It's hard work. I'm in the throes of it at the moment," he told Lake FM. "Based on the last two, it's taken me two years to get it to publication, so I expect this third one will come out next year sometime."
The Tūrangi visit fulfils a promise made to Dawson last year. "I ran into Lewis last year on a book tour. We came through Tūrangi and I came with my publisher and Lewis told me they don't get authors there very often," Dr. Soutar said. "He was surprised to see me turn up there so I said if he could arrange it I would come."
Tonight's event will include light refreshments and an opportunity for attendees to ask questions about any of Dr. Soutar's works.
