Book Launch: Aaron Topp: Nor’east Swell

Thursday 3 February 2022 | 5.30pm - 6.30pm
FREE event, bookings essential. Click here to book.

Please note, all visitors to the Gallery will need their Ministry of Health-issued My Vaccine Pass scanned before entry.

Join us for the launch of Nor’east Swell, a new young adult novel by award-winning author in The Path exhibiting, Aaron Topp.

Aaron Topp is an author who was born in Waipukurau. He has worked as a primary school teacher and currently lives in the Hawke’s Bay.

His first book, Single Fin (Random House, 2006), is a coming of age tale about a boy obsessed with surfing. The work won the Young Adult Fiction Honour Award at the 2007 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and was also listed as a 2007 Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book.

Creating Waves: How Surfing Inspires our most Creative New Zealanders (HarperCollins, 2009) is an exploration of the relationship of the role surfing and the sea plays in the creative lives of a selection of leading musicians, painters, sculptors, poets and fellow writers.

2015 saw the publication of Young Adult novel Hucking Cody: A Tale of Betrayal, Jealousy, Brotherly Love and Freeriding (Mary Egan Publishing). The novel tells the story of Cody, a young mountain biker whose unlucky run with girls, his family, and his job starts him on a journey of self-discovery. Hucking Cody received a Storylines Notable Book Award in 2016 and was a finalist for the Young Adult Fiction Award in the 2016 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

In February 2022 Aaron heads back to the beach with the launch of young adult novel Nor’east Swell (One Tree House).

Nor’east Swell traces Witi’s journey from treading water to finding his feet as he’s forced to confront the truth of his legacy, teenage desire, a lifelong friendship on the crest, who he should really believe, and whether his father was as sick as they say or the legend he made himself out to be. The story climaxes amongst the most dangerous waves ever seen on New Zealand’s coast, where man and nature are about to collide and all of Witi’s answers are within paddling distance.

Book will be available to purchase at the event.