A Forager’s Life: Finding my heart and home in nature

Helen Lehndorf is a life-long forager and Taranaki writer who lives in the Manawatū. She co-founded the Manawataū Urban Foraging group. Her first book, The Comforter, was published by Seraph Press in 2012, and her second book, Write to the Centre, a nonfiction book about the process of keeping a journal, was published by Haunui Press in 2016. Her work has also appeared in anthologies and journals such as Sport, Landfall and JAAM.

Ayesha Gibson began her career as a teenage tree in Beauty and The Beast for Fame Theatre Company and it has only gone up from there. On stage she has completed 5 seasons as Alice in Alice in Wonderland for Australian Shakespeare company, toured the new Australian comedy Highly Flammable Love to the Adelaide Fringe, and played Ellie in Bitten By productions revival of The Critic. Behind the scenes she recently directed Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear. In addition to her work on the stage she has made strides forward in film with recent credits including Avocado Toast (Oscar Thornburg), Spreadsheet (Paramount), and Savage River (ABC). She has also worked in VoiceOver, most recently as the voice of Fed Square’s 2020 docuseries. Ayesha is a 2016 federation university arts academy graduate and is represented by Ian White Management.