On 4th March there is to be a unusual literary event in west Auckland: a summer garden party from the team who bring you the Going West Books and Writers Festival.

This’ll be a doozy, trust me. The event is styled on the famous Going West steam train, but this steam engine is a stationary one. It's Mr Dave Harre’s whopping great, black, belching behemoth (pictured), with which he will cook your dinner. Yup, baskets of fresh corn and mussels will be gently steamed by this monster for your delectation. There’ll be other food as well, ably overseen by Slow Food maestro Alessandra Zecchini, plus wine from superb locals Artisan Wines.

Your $75 ticket will, of course, also buy you entertainment from some top writers and musicians over the course of the evening (4pm ‘til sundown) in a stunning garden setting in the Oratia foothills – the manicured grounds of Murray and Penny Firth’s Firlong Nurseries, complete with lake, shady glades and velvety lawns.

Featured artistes are: poet Glenn Colquhoun (Playing God and How We Fell) in a sparky duo with Cherie Barford; chef and Slow Food NZ director Alessandra Zecchini (Savour and Sweet As); novelist and Book Show presenter Emily Perkins (The Picnic Virgin and writer Philip Simpson (his book Pohutukawa & Rata won the Environment section of the Montanas last year), plus musical interludes from the likes of chanteuse Fiona Ferens, vintage Dixieland Jazz band ‘The Lex Pistols’, and roving troubadours Linn Lorkin with ‘The French Toast Trio’.

Tickets are available from Gone West Books in Titirangi, call (09) 817 3236 or email gonewest@xtra.co.nz (type ‘Going West Fundraiser’ in subject line). Hats, rugs, and cushions or folding chairs would be a good idea and authors' books will be available for signing on site (Unity Books will have a cash or credit stall).

As I’m a member of the aforementioned Going West Trust I’ll be there, probably serving food or wine, but if this event sounds like you I’d advise you to get your tickets fast as they are strictly limited. But if it works well it may become a summer fixture – and of course, it has the added bonus of being a fundraiser for everyone’s favourite little lit-fest.