Category: General

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at 80: recordings and tributes

CorrinaLeave a comment

Despite its geographical isolation from the traditional centres of the operatic world, Aotearoa New Zealand has produced a remarkable number of exceptional opera singers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and this tradition shows every sign of continuing. Of all these outstanding ‘southern voices’, the most immediately and internationally recognisable is Dame Kiri te Kanawa, who celebrated her eightieth birthday on Wednesday 6 March 2024. You can access tributes to, and interviews with Kiri te Kanawa via Radio New Zealand, including Playing Favourites with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Happy Birthday, Dame Kiri, Dame Kiri at 80, and Dame Kiri’s 80th birthday, a day of celebration.

Wellington City Libraries hold in their collection many recordings, both on CD and DVD, of performances by Kiri Te Kanawa, including fully staged operas, and song recitals;  this blog will explore a handful of those recordings and other materials. Continue reading “Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at 80: recordings and tributes” →

ComicFest 2024: 5 minutes with Isobel Joy Te Aho-White

AlayneLeave a comment
Isobel comicfest 2024

While we look forward to ComicFest 2024, meet Isobel Joy Te Aho-White in this “5 minutes with” interview.

Self-portrait illustration of Isobel Joy Te Aho-White
Self-portrait illustration of Isobel Joy Te Aho-White.

What first got you interested in comics? 

I grew up reading the Asterix and Tintin series, both were staples in New Zealand libraries in the 90s. My twin sister and I would get stacks of them and swap them after we’d done reading. 

Continue reading “ComicFest 2024: 5 minutes with Isobel Joy Te Aho-White” →

Congratulations Huia Publishers

AnnLeave a comment

It was a delight to read that Huia Publishers have been announced as winners of the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s  Publishers of the Year, Oceania, at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. It does not seem like 30 years since the Huia Publishers appeared on the landscape of New Zealand publishing, and I well remember those early days of the deeply dedicated mahi of Robyn and Brian Bargh, and later, Brian Morris, as well as their (as always) deeply committed staff.

Read about their big win over on The Spinoff, and find out more about Huia here.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui – (always) be strong, be brave, be steadfast in your mahi  (now and forever!)

Meet the Poets: Katūīvei launch this Friday at Newtown!

TessLeave a comment

Our Katūīvei Pasifika Poetry Readings event is almost here, so we thought we’d introduce you to some of the talented poets who will be reading at the event! Join us on Friday at Te Puna Waiora Newtown Library, 6-7pm for a dynamic night of contemporary poetry readings to celebrate the launch of this exciting new book (published by Massey University Press) hosted by former Poet Laureate and editor David Eggleton.

Karlo Mila MNZM is a Pasifika writer and poet of Tongan (the villages of Kolofo’ou and Ofu), as well as Samoan and Pākehā descent. Her first collection, Dream Fish Floating (Huia, 2005) won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry at the 2006 New Zealand Post Book Awards. She has subsequently published two further poetry collections, also with Huia: A Well Written Body (2008) and Goddess Muscle (2020).

 

Maringikura Mary Campbell lives in Pukerua Bay in the old family home with her whānau. She is the mother of three sons and four mokopuna. Identity, loss, tūpuna and wairua are common themes in her writing. She is not a prolific writer, but rather writes when a poem is given or there is fire in her belly.

 

 

Rob Hack was born in Invercargill and is of Cook Island and Kiwi heritage. He had an awesome childhood on Niue and after several forays around Australia now lives on the Kāpiti Coast. He runs two weekly creative writing classes at Te Ara Korowai in Raumati Beach and hosts a monthly radio show on Te Pae called Not at the Table: Poetry and Stuff. He is researching and writing about the life and times of Papa (Sir) Tom Davis.

 

Continue reading “Meet the Poets: Katūīvei launch this Friday at Newtown!” →

ComicFest 2024: 5 minutes with Lily Duval

AlayneLeave a comment

While we look forward to ComicFest 2024, meet Lily Duval in this “5 minutes with” interview.

an illustrated portrait of Lily with a paintbrush and pencil behind her ear and a book with a little creature on top of her head.
Self-portrait by Lily Duval

What first got you interested in comics?

From about the age of 5, I was obsessed with Tintin. I loved the clean lines of the drawing style and his wild adventures. Captain Haddock is a terrible role model for a child but I loved him the most. He was often drunk, had a seemingly endless supply of creative obscenities (some of which are terrible to read now) and was altogether pretty hapless. I even cut my hair like Tintin in my early twenties (shaved all over with a ‘party at the front’) and made Tintin-esque clothing.

Continue reading “ComicFest 2024: 5 minutes with Lily Duval” →

New Book by Daniel Clowes: Recent graphic novels

AmyLeave a comment

Daniel Clowes is one of the great alternative comic book writers of all time, with titles such as Ghost World and Like a velvet glove cast in iron. He has returned after 7 years with a new book called Monica, about a woman searching for her freewheelin’ parents who abandoned her when she was a child. If Daniel Clowes is not your thing, we also have a great selection of other new graphic novels such as a new Hellboy title and a memoir by Ai Weiwei.

If you love comics and graphic novels, don’t miss ComicFest on 4th May at the National Library! It will be a fun day of workshops, talks, comic giveaways, and live drawing with some incredible artists!

Monica / Clowes, Daniel
“A dazzling, spectacular tapestry of interconnected narratives that together tell a life story. After being abandoned by her freewheelin’ parents in childhood, succeeds in clawing her way to the top – only to lose it all in a stroke of bad luck. She lives out the rest of her days in search of her parents, encountering a cast of eccentric characters who help to piece together her story. Mysterious, uncategorisable and quintessentially Clowesian, here is a multi-layered masterpiece born of a lifetime of inspiration.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Zodiac : a graphic memoir / Ai, Weiwei | ebook available
“Ai Weiwei and Italian comic artist Gianluca Costantini present Zodiac, Ai Weiwei’s first graphic memoir. Inspired by the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, Ai Weiwei masterfully interweaves ancient Chinese folklore with stories of his life, family, and career. They will find not only a personal history of Ai Weiwei and an examination of the sociopolitical climate in which he makes his art, but a philosophical exploration of what it means to find oneself through art and freedom of expression.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Hellboy in love / Mignola, Michael
“Ghosts, ghouls… girlfriends? Love blooms between Hellboy and archaeologist Anastasia Bransfield – when they aren’t busy chasing goblins through the UK, fighting shadow ghosts in Turkey, and investigating film sets haunted by unsettled spirits in India, that is! This volume collects three stories of Hellboy and Anastasia’s misadventures, plus bonus material!” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Continue reading “New Book by Daniel Clowes: Recent graphic novels” →