The Wheel of Avalon: Fortune Tellers
Saturday 22 November, 1pm
Free | Registrations required
Unlike our screens in the ‘90s, we’ve stacked the deck with a legendary lineup of bold women ready to spin the wheel and share their insights and opinions.
Join freelance journalist Alice Soper, author and activist Emily Writes, and kaiako and poet Nicole Titihuia Hawkins as they take on our very own version of Wheel of Fortune. With former Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau playing game show host, our contestants will use their quick wit, game show sparkle and fearless brilliance to debate the ultimate questions: What really matters? Who deserves the mic?
While your cousins are still hitting up the comments section, you could be part of the studio audience in this reimagined Wheel of Fortune set and decide who will win on the day. You might even take home a spot prize or an existential crisis of your own!
Bios
After three years as Mayor of Wellington and five years as Chief of Staff to the Green Party, Tory Whanau has learned what courageous, values-driven leadership can achieve. Whanau has led teams through complex challenges, built authentic connections with communities, and championed inclusive, future-focused change. Her current focus is on advancing women’s leadership, creating safer and more equitable environments in politics, and contributing to global progress through storytelling, advocacy, and systems change
Emily Writes is a mum of two, a volunteer, activist, author, writer and public speaker. She has written three books – Rants in the Dark, Is it Bedtime Yet?, and Needs Adult Supervision. She makes her income from her newsletter Emily Writes Weekly.
Alice Soper was born and raised in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the youngest of her parents first batch of children. For years, Alice would give out her opinions for free. Dishing them up in carparks after rugby training, in monologues over brunch or in a stream of consciousness on the internet. Until one day, she was asked to write her thoughts down and that became her job. Her strongest held opinion is that if people loved women's sport the way she does, we'd all be better off. That and Wainuiomata is the greatest place on earth.
Nicole Titihuia Hawkins (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Pāhauwera) is a writer, teacher, business co-owner and proud māmā. She lives in Te Awakairangi and runs side hustles with her besties in her spare time. She facilitates Poetry with Brownies, an open mic event for indigenous peoples. Her debut collection, Whai, published by Tender Press, won the Jessie Mackay Prize for best first book of Poetry at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.