Walking the TalkLiterary Walking Tours founder, Beverly Martens, enjoys Colleen Marshall's City of Literature display on the Ground Floor, Dunedin City Library.

Walking the Talk 

A new venture is proving popular with booklovers – Literary Walking Tours around the University of Otago campus. 

“It’s a great way to tangibly celebrate the fact that Dunedin is now a UNESCO City of Literature,” explains creator and tour guide, Ms Beverly Martens, who developed the walking tours in consultation with the City of Literature Collaboration Group, the University, and the DCC’s Enterprise Dunedin team. The 90-minute tours showcase Dunedin as a place where writers, books and literature continue to thrive, by telling informative and anecdotal stories about the famous New Zealand writers who have been based here – Thomas Bracken, Charles Brasch, Janet Frame, James K. Baxter, and Hone Tuwhare, to name just a few – while walking through the picturesque and historic University of Otago campus. 

“Because the University has so much of the early New Zealand literary scene virtually embedded in its walls and buildings, it is a natural place to conduct these tours,” says Beverly, who launched the walks back in January. They are already proving popular with both New Zealand and overseas visitors. 

Beverly is a creative writer herself with poems published in several anthologies and was chosen by the Fortune Theatre as one of its emerging playwrights last year. She is actively involved in the Dunedin literary scene and a member of the Otago/Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors, organising many events including its regular Writers’ Salons. 

The Literary Walking Tours are seasonal at this stage – on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings – until April, when a winter schedule will be determined. They leave from the University Visitors’ Centre and the cost is $30 per person. To book a tour, contact Beverly directly on 027 44 44 788.