It's a fantastic event, but it's not coming to a main centre near you. In fact, if you live in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin, you can't see it unless you travel. It's called Words on Wheels and it's meant for the regions.

Every February for the past 17 years, the New Zealand Book Council has been taking writers to various regions of New Zealand – making sure that New Zealanders everywhere have access to our literary talent. This year the Book Council is heading back up the East Coast, taking in 13 events at a range of venues: from schools and bookshops to libraries, cafés, vineyards and the Opotiki A&P Show.

Words on Wheels last toured the Hawke's Bay and East Coast in 2003. Poet Chris Price described the experience as "fantastic, stressful, stimulating, exhausting, hilarious, frustrating (because of all the beautiful locations we passed through but couldn't stop in) and memorable".

Covering the regions

The Words on Wheels tour spends six days in a particular area of the country each year, and leading New Zealand writers perform in a dozen or more communities and schools.

Over a five-year cycle, Words on Wheels tours three regions in the North Island and two in the South Island. Last year, for instance, it toured the Bay of Plenty and Waikato and in 2005, it visited the top of the South Island.

The 2008 line-up

Taking part in this year's East Coast tour are five established New Zealand writers, representing various genres. They are novelist Louise Wareham Leonard; Māori historian, non-fiction writer, journalist and broadcaster Paul Diamond; children's writer and scriptwriter Ken Catran; poet and actor Michele Amas; and playwright and scriptwriter Victor Rodger.

When he was invited to go on tour, Rodger exclaimed, "That sounds great. I'll grab any chance to get back up the East Coast!" Not only is Rodger working on two new plays but he's doing it in New York. He arrives home in Christchurch only a couple of weeks before setting off on tour to the sun-drenched East Coast – a darn sight warmer than the New York winter.

Not travelling quite as far as Rodger, Kiwi writer Wareham Leonard will be returning to New Zealand from her home in Queensland to join the tour. When her Words on Wheels invitation arrived, Wareham Leonard was dining at home with a guest, telling him how she had just been asked to join the New Zealand Book Council's Words on Wheels tour. That guest was Paul Diamond, who returned to Wellington after his visit to Australia and found messages on his phone and in his email inviting him to participate in the same tour.

Prolific and award-winning writer Ken Catran has worked with the Book Council's Writers in Schools programme for the past ten years. Following a school visit last year, a Green Bay High School teacher described him as a writer who "has brilliant concepts and a real enthusiasm for writing".

Wellington poet and actor Michele Amas is exploring her "turbulent and joyful" relationship with her 16-year-old daughter in her latest writing. With 20 years acting experience under her belt, her stand-up poetry is sure to delight audiences.

A variety of events

Whether it's in a library, school or café, no two events are the same. Each event is influenced by the size of the crowd, the interests of the audience and the environment in which it is presented. Audiences tend to vary from 30 to 180 people at public events.

Children's writer David Hill has been on five Words on Wheels tours. Once, at Cape Reinga, no one showed up and so the tour group stood on a cliff top and recited to the sea. In contrast, he did a solo performance to 600 students in Whangarei. "The kids were brilliant," he says.

Feedback from Words on Wheels tours is invariably positive. From Papamoa: "So good to hear enthusiastic stimulating people when living in a cultural desert!" From Rawene: "Wonderful to get live art in these isolated areas, a good mix of presenters that appealed to wide age-range – important in small communities" And from Kaikoura: "Very good to have the opportunity in Kaikoura – it doesn't often happen."

The week-long Words On Wheels 2008 tour will begin on Monday 11 Febuary in Hastings and end in Whakatane on Sunday 17 February.

Article and image by Charlie Holland. Charlie is a freelance writer and the New Zealand Book Council's Events and Touring Manager.