STORYLINES - Free Family Day

I am really excited about this weekend. I am volunteering on Sunday at the Auckland Storylines Festival. This free day is on Sunday from 10am to 3pm at the Aotea Centre, for children of all ages (the young and the young at heart).

There are international guests Babette Cole and Carole Wilkinson, plus storyteller Cathy Spagnoli. As well there are plenty of Kiwi authors (Joy Cowley, David Hill, Melanie Drewery are just a few), illustrators, storytellers, publishers and booksellers, plus exhibits, competitions, the national final of the Kids Lit Quiz, performers, facepainters, activities and puppets. The Aotea Centre is going to be a hive of activity. And we will be there!!! I'll even take the camera and see if I can get a few shots and some comments from the famous people.

Did I mention it was free! Take some lunch and have a picnic in the Square before diving back into the hub-bub. Listen to your favourite author and get them to sign a book for you. It should be fantastic. See you there.

Behind the Headlines

The Cops have been getting some pretty bad raps at the moment with headlines about “Not Guilty” verdicts from three high profile trials, discussions on response times and everyone from the Prime Minister to talk back callers voicing their opinion.

I’m not going to get into whether the headlines are deserved or not (and you don’t want me on my soapbox about the media). However away from the headlines and at the coalface, the Police are an integral part of our society. They do have a colourful history and you can read about New Zealand Police, the successes and the failures, the histories and biographies, all in the non-fiction collection at any Rodney Library. You will find most of these under the Dewey Numbers starting with 360. Or you can read about the Police and Crime in our changing society under Dewey Number 305.

There are some interesting and funny biographies from the Police Force which you can find in the biographies which are located under Number 920. And don’t forget that the numbers are the same whether you are in the adult or the children’s non-fiction areas.

Another way of looking for books on a topic is to do a subject or a keyword search in our Rodney Libraries catalogue. If you enter New Zealand Police into a subject search, this will result in a list of subject headings, any of which you can click on to bring up the titles to choose from. If you enter New Zealand Police into a keyword search, this will result in all the books in the Rodney Libraries that have these three words in our catalogue entry.

Montana New Zealand Book Awards - finalists announced

Here's the list of finalists - clicking on the title or author link will take you to the Rodney Libraries catalogue entry where you can reserve the item or just find out a bit more about it. Clicking on the category link will take you through to the NZ Booksellers website with more information about the item.

Fiction
"The Blue" by Mary McCallum
"Edwin + Matilda" by Laurence Fearnley
"Luminous" by Alice Tawhai
"Opportunity" by Charlotte Grimshaw

Poetry
"Cold Snack" by Janet Charman
"A Long Girl Ago" by Johanna Aitchison
"The Pop-Up Book of Invasions" by Fiona Farrell

History
"Age of Enterprise: Rediscovering the New Zealand Entrepreneur 1881-1910" by Ian Hunter
"Devils on Horses" by Terry Kinloch
"Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka Volume II: Te Ara Hou - The New Society" by Hilary and John Mitchell

Biography
"The Best Man Who Ever Served the Crown? A Life of Donald McLean" by Ray Fargher
"The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor" by Judy Siers
"Waimarino County & Other Excursions" by Martin Edmond

Reference and Anthology
"Look This Way: New Zealand Writers on New Zealand Artists" edited by Sally Blundell
"A Nest of Singing Birds: 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal" by Gregory O'Brien
"The Transit of Venus" edited by Mary Varnham

Lifestyle and Contemporary Culture
"In Form: New Zealand Graffiti Artists Discuss Their Work" by Elliot O'Donnell
"Mau Moko: The World of Maori Tattoo" by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
"Shot In New Zealand: The art and craft of the Kiwi cinematographer" by Duncan Petrie

Environment
"Southern Alps" by Alison Ballance
"The Surface of the Sea: Encounters with New Zealand's Upper Ocean Life" by Iain Anderson
"Wetlands of New Zealand" by Janet Hunt

Illustrative
"Aberhart" by Laurence Aberhart, with essays by Gregory O'Brien and Justin Paton
"Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning" by Jennifer Hay, with Ron Brownson, Chris Knox and Laurence Aberhart; designed by Aaron Beehre
"Comma dot dogma" edited by Aaron Kreisler

For more information
"Montana Book Awards entries praised" NZ Herald
"Women dominate fiction list for Montana NZ Book Awards" NZ Herald
"Debut novel shortlisted for Montana" Dominion Post via Stuff


UPDATED Wednesday 11 June 12:52pm
Gosh. There's certainly some opinion out there on the judge's decision to only choose 4 fiction finalists instead of the usual 5. Read about it on the following blogs
"Montana Moans" Leaf Salon
Beattie's Book Blog (There looks to be an ongoing discussion on this blog (one of NZ's best for book-related news) so scroll down to the last post on Tuesday 10 June where the fun starts.)

And the winner is...

... British author Rose Tremain last week was named as the winner of the 13th Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction with her 10th novel The Road Home (Chatto & Windus). This is a story of an East European immigrant grappling with the challenges of life in London.
“The judges felt that this was a powerfully imagined story and a wonderful feat of emotional empathy told with great warmth and humour,” said the chair of the judges Kirsty Lang. And it's highly recommended by some of the Rodney Libraries staff and patrons as well.

The Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction written by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible. The Orange Prize is awarded to the best novel of the year written in English by a woman.

This awards ceremony also saw the announcement of the 2008 Orange Broadband Award for New Writers. Established in 2005 as part of the Orange Prize 10th year celebrations, the emphasis of the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers is on emerging talent and the evidence of future potential. This year the winner is Joanna Kavenna for her novel Inglorious (Faber and Faber).

(source Booksellers Brief 5/6/08)

Are you a writer? Enter the Western Districts Short Story Competition

21ST CELEBRATION YEAR --- 2008

$1500 in prize money is offered in the Western Districts Short Story Competition, open to any New Zealand writer. Entries will be accepted from June to closing date, and a prize giving will be held on 1 OCTOBER 2008.

The competition is sponsored by the WAITAKERE LICENSING TRUST and supported by the WESTERN LEADER.

Prizes are $500 (first)Plus Travel & Accommodation. $250 (second) $150 (third). In the Junior Section prizes are $150 (first) $100 (second) and $50 (third).

For information write to: P.O.Box 83-065, Edmonton 0652, Waitakere City