The Strength of Water Patricia Grace and Briar Grace-Smith

Celebrated novelist Patricia Grace has written that one of the intentions of her work is to ‘show who we are' as a people and she does this by paying particular attention to the vernacular, to tradition and to place.

In her novel 'Dogside Story' Grace explores the strength of whanau and the aroha of the community through the story of a damaged young man who in coming to care for a young girl threatens to divide the community.

In Briar Grace-Smith's film script 'The Strength of Water' a mysterious stranger appears in a small coastal town. He takes up residence, tragedy strikes, and the community is pulled apart.

In both of these works the reader encounters engaging and evocative accounts of life in Maori communities.

Join these two writers in conversation with Mark Amery about the different ways of inventing and exploring the idea of place.