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Toi Art × Verb: Still Life Action

Writers present new micro-fictions inspired by the romance, hijinks, and child’s play in Leslie Adkins’ extraordinary photographs. Presented in collaboration with Verb Wellington.

When | Āhea

Sat 28 Feb 2026, 11am to 12pm

Where | Ki hea

Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer, Toi Art, Level 4

Cost | Te utu

Free, with museum entry

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible

There’s something new to see, hear, or do in Toi Art every month. Join us for free talks, performances, and hands-on activities that respond to the artworks and exhibitions.

This month: Leslie Adkin's extraordinary photographs bring the past to life: the figures captured so vividly that it is hard to believe time exists between them and us. Every image is a story ... romance, hi-jinks, child's play, work, and domestic life.

We invite three writers to create new micro-fictions in response to one, two, or even a series of Adkin's photographs. What written worlds will the images evoke? Come and discover a playful interaction between images of old and writers of now.

With: Jordan Hamel, Jack Remiel Cottrell and Anthony Lapwood (with Q&A afterwards)

This event is part of a series presented in collaboration with Verb Wellington.

About the Authors

Anthony Lapwood (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Whakaue, Pākehā) is an award-winning fiction writer living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. His work has appeared in a wide range of publications, and his collection of interconnected stories Home Theatre won the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. He teaches creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

Jack Remiel Cottrell (Ngāti Rangi) is a queer short fiction writer with an expensive rugby refereeing habit. His debut flash fiction collection Ten Acceptable Acts of Arson and other very short stories won the Wallace Foundation prize and was published in 2021 by Canterbury University Press. His second book,The Emotion Dealer and other stories, was published in November 2025.

Jordan Hamel is a writer from Timaru, Aotearoa. He holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and currently acts as Director of Featherston Booktown. His debut poetry collection, Everyone is Everyone Except You, was published in New Zealand by Dead Bird Books in 2022 and by Broken Sleep in the UK in 2024. He is the winner of the 2023 Sonora Review Poetry Prize, and the 2023 New Writers UK Poetry Prize. He was the runner-up in the 2023 American Literary Review Poetry Prize and a finalist for the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize, the 2024 BOMB Poetry Contest, amongst others. Recent work can be found or is forthcoming in POETRY, Poetry Daily, Electric Literature, Kenyon Review, North American Review, The Adroit Journal, FENCE, and elsewhere.

Gilbert Adkin with giant cauliflower, 'Cheslyn Rise' farm, circa 1910, Levin, by Leslie Adkin. Gift of G. L. Adkin family estate, 1964. Te Papa (B.022534)

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