The Nelson Institute Talks

2pm, Sunday August 4th, Elma Turner Library.

Cost: $3. Payment can be made by direct credit to 03-1354-0183881-00

Emma Stevens is a retired teacher, now author, born in Christchurch and raised in Whanganui. Her life has been eventful, rather like Snakes and Ladders, taking her to England, the USA, Australia and back to New Zealand, her career often guiding her to work with Indigenous people.

In the mid 70s, she married an African American guitarist from the English funk group, Heatwave, where she experienced life in the fast lane, attending the Grammys alongside stars like Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand, and where Count Basie actually sang to her. Her daughter was born in LA at Cedars Sinai Hospital with Elizabeth Taylor just upstairs, and it was there that she was first exposed to racism.

Her life took a drastic turn in her late forties when, newly divorced and returning to NZ, she met her current husband online, neither ever expecting to actually meet as he was living in the Arctic Circle and she was teaching in Balclutha, South Otago. What then happened has been described in her popular trilogy Walking on Ice, Nesting on the Nushagak and Dancing on the Tundra.

She has given many talks about her six years of remote Alaskan life throughout NZ. Her talks cover the lifestyle, challenges and surprises of living in bush Alaska with the amazing Yup’ik and Cup’ik people. Accompanying photos are on her website www.walkingonice.co.nz.

She and her husband currently live in the green pastures of Tasman, amongst the fruit trees, beaches and warmth of this spectacular region.

For further information, please email to costleymarr@xtra.co.nz.