In 1975 Lauren Roche, attended Wellington High School. Lauren would soon lose her mother to a drug overdose, and go to become a stripper, teen stowaway, prostitute and drug user. She then turned her life around, qualifying then practising as a medical doctor. She also wrote two highly successful memoirs and moved to Northland. She launches her first novel, Mina and the Bone man, in September 2022.

In 1975 Dave Armstrong also attended Wellington High School. He became a musician, failed Maths teacher, playwright and is now co-director of the Upsurge Festival. Dave remembers teasing Lauren about being president of the Bay City Rollers fan club. Lauren remembers Dave's smile and nothing else.

Now Lauren and Dave meet again, for the first time in over 40 years, and talk about Lauren's
incredible life and new novel. Set in the Puketi Forest near Okaihau, Mila and the Bone man tells the story of a teenage girl and her meth-addicted mother, and the girl's relationship with Tommy – an autistic man fascinated by bones.

"Mila and the Bone Man deals with trauma, guilt and loss, but at the bottom of that Pandora's box is indeed hope, home and healing." - Louise Ward, Hawke's Bay Today

"Straddling old worlds and new … Mila and the Bone man will send its roots deep into your heart." -
Catherine Chidgey
 

Browse through our other UPSURGE Kōrero | Conversations events here.
 

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