Photo, Albertland Heritage Museum. Pictured, the Port Albert agricultural show in the early 1900s.
The Wellsford Library is calling on budding writers to re-imagine Port Albert as a bustling metropolis for a writing competition.
In the 1860s, Albertland was founded by settlers who planned to make use of the Kaipara Harbour to create a city to rival Auckland. Writers are invited to create a short story on the basis that the plan succeeded.
Librarian Jamie Robertson says writers have free licence with their imagination: perhaps the Kaipara Harbour was safer or maybe it was besieged with piracy?
“The story could be set in the future with bullet trains and hover cars, or it could imagine a pre-European Pacific city.”
The competition is open to all genres, from crime and thriller to science fiction and fantasy.
There is an adult category, and a teenage category for writers aged 13 to 19.
It is the first time the Wellsford Library has organised a competition of this nature.
Auckland Libraries is holding a region-wide “We Read Auckland” programme and individual libraries have been encouraged to hold their own events and competitions.
The winning story will be displayed at the Wellsford Library and published online at www.localmatters.co.nz.
Writers are invited to send stories of 2000 words or less, to wellslib@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
with “Albertlander Short Story Competition” in the subject line. Deadline is Wednesday, June 30.
