Tag: nz authors

Meet the panel: Witi Ihimaera

Neil

Witi Ihimaera photo by Colin McDiarmid

Coming soon to Newtown Library we have a very special launch event for the new anthology A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha. The panel for this event features some of Aotearoa’s most acclaimed authors, poets and artists. Leading up to the launch, we thought we would place a spotlight on just a few of the stellar writers who will be in attendance.

Our first spotlight is on one of the editors; the iconic and nationally celebrated writer Witi Ihimaera. In 2017, Witi Ihimaera was awarded a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement. What the selectors said when awarding him this accolade speaks volumes about his work and practice. They described Witi “as one of New Zealand’s most important post-colonial writers, who has consistently proved to be an outstanding storyteller, celebrated as a voice for Māoritanga and a literary leader’. We are thrilled that Witi Ihimaera will be one of the hosts at the Launch of for  A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha.

Our other honoured guests include Michelle Elvy, Tina Makereti, Pip Adam, Harry Ricketts, Gregory O’Brien, Ya-Wen Ho and Noa Noa von Bassewitz.

Event listing of Facebook

Friday 26th of May, , 6-7pm

Newtown Library

A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha is a major anthology of new writing featuring some of Aotearoa’s most eminent writers, artists and thinkers as they consider what our shared future might hold. The book is a series of rich conversations that discuss our world in the second decade of this century. Just a few of the hot button topics the authors look at include decolonisation, indigeneity and climate change. A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha, itself, is arranged according to the principles of whaikōrero.

The anthology, co-edited by Witi Ihimaera and Michelle Elvy, embraces a wide spectrum of voices. It  creates a multiplicity of views for readers to consider. The writers included also hail from a wide variety  of artistic and professional practices, including: poets, anthropologists, fiction writers, architects and  academics. The resultant final book is a luminous hui, a book to return to time and again.

As co editor Witi Ihimaera says of the book – “It incorporates all types of writing, positions Aotearoa New Zealand as a marae for the future and it empowers so many voices from so many places to speak out to the world with strong and vigorous kōrero. It has built for itself a truly unique and innovative marae from which to hui from.”

Please note we anticipate that this event will be very popular and seating will be on a first come, first served basis.

 

Culprits in the Capital: Newtown Mystery in the Library, 9 June

Neil

Do you love delving into tales full of mystery and thrills?

Then join us for an exciting evening of criminally good conversation featuring four local authors.

The Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with Wellington City Libraries, invites booklovers to a fascinating author panel. 2021 Ngaios winner Brannavan Gnanalingam and two-time Ngaios finalist Kirsten McDougall are joined by fellow Wellington novelists Anne Harre and Rodney Strong to discuss how they craft page-turning stories about captivating characters.

Event details

WHEN: Friday 9 June 2023, 6pm

WHERE: Newtown Library, 13 Constable Street, Wellington

This is a free event

Please note we expect this event to be very popular and seating will be on a first come first served basis.

Event on Facebook – Newtown Mystery in the Library

Ngaio Marsh Awards on Facebook
Ngaio Marsh Awards on Facebook

About the panellists:

Anne Harre is an author and school librarian in Wellington who’s also worked as a music teacher, bookseller, and editor of the New Zealand Poetry Society anthology. Her first crime novel The leaning man was praised as “slick, engaging and compelling” (Academy of NZ Literature).

Brannavan Gnanalingam is a Wellington novelist, freelance writer, and property lawyer who was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Lower Hutt. He’s written seven novels, been listed for the Ockham NZ Book Awards three times, and won a 2021 Ngaio Marsh Award for Sprigs.

Kirsten McDougall is an award-winning short story writer, novelist, and creative writing teacher who lives in Ōwhiro Bay. Her novels have been longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards and the Dublin Literary Award, and Kirsten is a two-time finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Awards.

Rodney Strong is a Porirua author who left his day job in 2016 to follow his lifelong dream of being a writer. He has since published more than a dozen books for children and adults, including five Ghostly Hitchhiker mysteries and five Silvermoon Retirement Village mysteries.

And don’t forget to check out our first Ngaio Marsh Awards event earlier in the month (1 June at Karori Library):

Capital Crimes – Karori Mystery in the Library

Featuring: Charity Norman, Helen Vivienne Fletcher,  Jennifer Lane and Alistair Luke.

Selected works

Below is a selection of titles from the authors involved available to borrow from the Library:

Slow down you’re here. / Gnanalingam, Brannavan
“Kavita is stuck in a dead-end marriage. A parent of two small kids, she is the family’s main breadwinner. An old flame unexpectedly offers her a week away in Waiheke. If she were to go, she’s not sure when – or if – she’d come back.” (Adapted from catalogue)

Sprigs / Gnanalingam, Brannavan
“It is Saturday afternoon and two boys’ schools are locked in battle for college rugby supremacy. Priya – a fifteen year old who barely belongs – watches from the sidelines. Then it is Saturday night and the team is partying. Priya’s friends have evaporated and she isn’t sure what to do. In the weeks after ‘the incident’ life seems to go on. But when whispers turn to confrontation, the institutions of wealth and privilege circle the wagons.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The leaning man / Harré, Anne
“Wellington. The land dips and rolls, the wind has a life of its own. It’s Saturday night down on the wharf. Celebrations are in full swing for the Westons’ fortieth wedding anniversary. Their daughter Stella has returned from London to attend. She’s now a private investigator in London, reduced to filming errant husbands for court cases. She doesn’t want to be home. Later that night her best friend Teri is found dead in a lane in the central city. Her phone is missing. It looks like suicide, but Stella won’t believe it. The race is on between those who want the phone, the homeless man who’s pocketed it, and Stella.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

She’s a killer. / McDougall, Kirsten
“Set in a very near future New Zealand where the effects of climate change are really beginning to bite and affect both our physical world but also our society.Full of spicy and fresh characters that leap of the book’s pages and a plot effortlessly moves from razor sharp humour to Climate fear driven sure shot action.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Tess / McDougall, Kirsten
“Tess is on the run when she’s picked up from the side of the road by lonely middle-aged father Lewis Rose. With reluctance, she’s drawn into his family troubles and comes to know a life she never had. Set in Masterton at the turn of the millennium, Tess is a gothic love story about the ties that bind and tear a family apart.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Troy’s possibilities / Strong, Rodney
“For Troy Messer, time travel is great on TV, but it’s not reality. Troy is afflicted by a condition that lets him live out different futures for himself – lots of them. Jaded by all the possibilities, he drifts from day to day never knowing if what he’s living is real life or just a possible one. When he first meets Cat, it’s not even close to love at first sight. She pepper sprays him and steals his phone. But then he meets her again, and again. Finally he becomes convinced that this funny, crazy woman might just be what he needs to make sense of his existence. But in his strange world of possiblities nothing is straightforward.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Capital Crimes: Karori Mystery in the Library, 1 June

Neil

Are you a fan of mysteries?

The Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with Wellington City Libraries, invites booklovers to a fun evening of criminally good conversation featuring four talented Kiwi storytellers.

Two-time Ngaio Marsh Awards finalist Charity Norman chairs a panel discussion with Wellington authors Jennifer Lane, Helen Vivienne Fletcher, and Alistair Luke on how they craft memorable characters and page-turning storylines.

WHEN: Thursday 1 June 2023

WHERE: Karori Library, 247 Karori Road, Wellington

WHEN: 6pm

This is a free event.

Charity Norman is the author of seven novels, including World Book Night title After the fall and past Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists See you in September and The secrets of strangers. Born in Uganda, Charity worked as a lawyer in northern England before immigrating to New Zealand in 2002.

Helen Vivienne Fletcher is a playwright, poet, writing teacher and children’s author. She’s been shortlisted for the Joy Cowley Award, and was named Outstanding Young Playwright at the Wellington Theatre Awards. Her first YA novel was a finalist for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards.

Jennifer Lane is a copywriter, short story writer, and author. Her short stories have been published in journals and magazines in New Zealand and Australia. Jennifer’s debut novel, All our secrets, won the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. Her latest novel is Miracle.

Alistair Luke is a Wellington architect and debut novelist with a passion for our capital city’s history. A fourth-generation Wellingtonian, his first novel One heart one spade is an historical police procedural set locally in the late 1970s. Below is a selection of titles from the authors involved available to borrow from the Library.

Please note we expect this event to be very popular and seating will be on a first come first served basis.

For further details of the Ngaio Marsh Awards visit their Facebook page here.

Facebook event click can be found here.

 

And don’t forget to check out our second Ngaio Marsh Awards event later in the month:

Culprits in the Capital – Newtown Mystery in the Library

Friday, 9 June 2023, 6-7:30pm
Featuring Brannavan Gnanalingam, Kirsten McDougall, Rodney Strong and Anne Harre.

 

The secrets of strangers / Norman, Charity
“Five strangers, one cafe – and the day that everything changed. A regular weekday morning veers drastically off-course for a group of strangers whose paths cross in a London cafe – their lives never to be the same again when an apparently crazed gunman holds them hostage. But there is more to the situation than first meets the eye and as the captives grapple with their own inner demons, the line between right and wrong starts to blur. Will the secrets they keep stop them from escaping with their lives?” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

See you in September / Norman, Charity
“Having broken up with her boyfriend, Cassy accepts an invitation to stay in an idyllic farming collective. Overcome by the peace and beauty of the valley and swept up in the charisma of Justin, the community’s leader, Cassy becomes convinced that she has to stay. As Cassy becomes more and more entrenched in the group’s beliefs, her frantic parents fight to bring her home – before Justin’s prophesied Last Day can come to pass.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

Miracle / Lane, Jennifer
“Born in the middle of Australia’s biggest-ever earthquake, Miracle is fourteen when her world crumbles. Thanks to her dad’s new job at Compassionate Cremations — which falls under suspicion for Boorunga’s spate of sudden deaths — the entire town turns against their family. She fears for her agoraphobic mother, and for her angelic, quake-damaged brother, Julian. When Oli plays a cruel trick on Miracle, he sets off a chain of devastating events. Then her dad is arrested for a brutal attack. How can she convince the town of her dad’s innocence?” ( Adapted from Catalogue)

All our secrets / Lane, Jennifer
“A girl called Gracie. A small town called Coongahoola with the dark Bagooli River running through it. The River Children – born in the aftermath of the infamous River Picnic. They begin to go missing, one after another. Gracie Barrett is the naively savvy spokesperson for her chaotic family, for the kids who are taken, for the lurking fear that locks down the town and puts everyone under suspicion. Coongahoola is where hope and fear collide, where tender adolescence is confronted by death, where kindness is a glimmer of light  in the dark.”(Adapted from Catalogue)

Broken silence / Fletcher, Helen Vivienne
“A stranger just put Kelseys boyfriend in a coma. The worst part? She asked him to do it. Seventeen-year-old Kelsey is dealing with a lot an abusive boyfriend, a gravely ill mother, an absent father, and a confusing new love interest. After her boyfriend attacks her in public, a stranger on the end of the phone line offers to help. Kelsey pays little attention to his words, but the caller is deadly serious. Suddenly the people Kelsey loves are in danger, and only Kelsey knows it. Will Kelsey discover the identity of the caller before its too late?” (Adapted from Catalogue)

One heart one spade / Luke, Alistair
“Wellington, December 1977. Felicity Daniels is missing, and a murdered drug dealer has complicated things for Detective Lucas Cole. Around him the Criminal Investigation Branch starts to unravel. As the questions surface, Cole starts to wonder if one of their own is responsible. New bonds form, and old ones wilt under the pressure. Facts become fictions and fictions become facts, the most trusted becoming the most likely. With his own relationship on the rocks, Lucas is led down a path he might regret as he negotiates the personal and the professional to find both Felicity and his own soul. One Heart, One Spade is a compelling crime story about family, love and loss in 1970s New Zealand.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha launch event

Neil

A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha

Book launch event on Facebook

Friday 26th of May at Newtown Library, 6-7pm

with

Witi Ihimaera, Michelle Elvy, Tina Makereti, Pip Adam, Harry Ricketts, Gregory O’Brien, Ya-Wen Ho and Noa Noa von Bassewitz

A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha is a major anthology of new writing featuring some of Aotearoa’s most eminent writers, artists and thinkers as they consider what our shared future might hold. The book is a series of rich conversations that discuss our world in the second decade of this century. Just a few of the hot button topics the authors look at include decolonisation, indigeneity and climate change. A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha, itself, is arranged according to the principles of whaikōrero.

The anthology, co-edited by Witi Ihimaera and Michelle Elvy, embraces a wide spectrum of voices. It  creates a multiplicity of views for readers to consider. The writers included also hail from a wide variety  of artistic and professional practices, including: poets, anthropologists, fiction writers, architects and  academics. The resultant final book is a luminous hui, a book to return to time and again.

Witi Ihimaera photo by Colin McDiarmid

As co editor Witi Ihimaera says of the book – “It incorporates all types of writing, positions Aotearoa New Zealand as a marae for the future and it empowers so many voices from so many places to speak out to the world with strong and vigorous kōrero. It has built for itself a truly unique and innovative marae from which to hui from.”

                                                                                                               

This Wellington launch  event will include Witi Ihimaera, Michelle Elvy, Tina Makereti, Pip Adam, Harry Ricketts, Gregory O’Brien, Ya-Wen Ho and Noa Noa von Bassewitz. It promises to be unmissable, and also provide an important and valuable contribution to the conversations about our collective future.

Please note we anticipate that this event will be very popular and seating will be on a first come, first served basis.

A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-taha : An anthology of new writing for a new world order / Ihimaera, Witi
“Sixty-eight writers and eight artists gather at a hui in a magnificent cave-like dwelling or meeting house. In the middle is a table, the tepu korero, from which the rangatira speak; they converse with honoured guests, and their rangatira-korero embody the tahuhu, the over-arching horizontal ridge pole, of the shelter. In a series of rich conversations, those present discuss our world in the second decade of this century; they look at decolonisation, indigeneity, climate change . . . this is what they see. Edited by Witi Ihimaera and Michelle Elvy, this fresh, exciting anthology features poetry, short fiction and creative non-fiction, as well as korero or conversations between writers and work by local and international artists. The lineup from Aoteraoa includes, among others, Alison Wong, Paula Morris, Anne Salmond, Tina Makereti, Ben Brown, David Eggleton, Cilla McQueen, Hinemoana Baker, Erik Kennedy, Ian Wedde, Nina Mingya Powles, Gregory O’ Brien, Vincent O’ Sullivan, Patricia Grace, Selina Tusitala Marsh and Whiti Hereaka. Guest writers from overseas include Aparecida Vilaç a, Jose-Luis Novo and Ru Freeman.” ( Adapted from Catalogue)

Wellington Writers Walk: 21st anniversary event, 13 May

Neil

 

Saturday 13th May, 11am

Karori Library   

Facebook event listing here

The Wellington Writers Walk is 21 years old this year, and to celebrate this auspicious occasion we are holding a very special event with two of New Zealand’s most celebrated authors: Elizabeth Knox and Dame Fiona Kidman. Along with author, broadcaster and Writers Walk committee member Tanya Ashcroft, they will talk about the creation, history and future of this wonderful Wellington institution and the part they’ve played in making the walk the much-loved success it is.

Tanya Ashcroft

For anyone unfamiliar, this walk along Wellington’s beautiful, famed waterfront pedestrian precinct is considered by many as “one of the world’s loveliest urban land-and-seascapes”. It consists of sculptural quotations situated in picturesque locations from the writings of a selection of iconic New Zealand authors – both past and contemporary. The walk celebrates and commemorates the place of Wellington in these writers’ lives, and their place in the life of Wellington.

Writers featured include: Katherine Mansfield, Robin Hyde, Pat Lawlor, Denis Glover, James K. Baxter, Bruce Mason, Lauris Edmond, Maurice Gee, Patricia Grace, Vincent O’Sullivan, Barbara Anderson, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Eileen Duggan, Bill Manhire and our very special guests Dame Fiona Kidman and Elizabeth Knox.

Please note we expect this event to be very popular and seating will be on a first come first served basis.

An NZ Sign Language Interpreter will be present at this event.

The Wellington Writers Walk is a project of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc.

Below is a very small selection of Elizabeth Knox and Fiona Kidman titles available to borrow.

So far, for now : on journeys, widowhood and stories that are never over / Kidman, Fiona
“Evocative, wry and thought-provoking, this is a rewarding journey with one of our finest writers. It is a little over a decade since Fiona Kidman wrote her last volume of memoir. But her story did not end on its last page; instead her life since has been busier than ever, filled with significant changes, new writing and fascinating journeys. From being a grandmother to becoming a widow, from the suitcase-existence of book festivals to researching the lives and deaths of Jean Batten and Albert Black, she has found herself in new territory and viewed the familiar with fresh eyes. ” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

The absolute book / Knox, Elizabeth
“Taryn Cornick believes that the past is behind her – her sister’s death by violence, and her own ill-conceived revenge. She has chosen to live a life more professional than personal. She has written a book about the things that threaten libraries – insects, damp, light, fire, carelessness and uncaring. The book is a success, but not all of the attention it brings her is good. There are questions about a fire in the library at Princes Gate, her grandparents’ house, and about an ancient scroll box known as the Firestarter. A policeman, Jacob Berger, has questions about a cold case. There are threatening phone calls. And a shadowy young man named Shift appears, bringing his shadows with him. Taryn, Jacob, Shift – three people are driven towards a reckoning felt in more than one world.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
This mortal boy / Kidman, Fiona
“Albert Black, known as the ‘jukebox killer’, was only twenty when he was convicted of murdering another young man in a fight at a milk bar in Auckland on 26 July 1955. His crime fuelled growing moral panic about teenagers, and he was to hang less than five months later, the second-to-last person to be executed in New Zealand. But what really happened? Was this a love crime, was it a sign of juvenile delinquency? Or was this dark episode in our recent history more about our society’s reaction to outsiders.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook 
Dreamhunter / Knox, Elizabeth
“Fast-paced and dazzlingly imaginative, Dreamhunter will draw the reader into an extraordinary fictional world in which dreams are as vividly described as the cream cakes in the tea shop, the sand on the beach or teenage first love.Set in 1906, Dreamhunter describes a world very similar to ours, except for a special place, known simply as The Place, where only a select group of people can go. These people are called Dreamhunters and they harvest dreams which are then transmitted to the general public for the purposes of entertainment, therapy – or terror and political coercion.Fifteen-year-old cousins Laura Hame and Rose Tiebold both come from famous dreamhunting families, but only Laura proves to be blessed with the gift and once inside The Place she finds out what happened to her missing dreamhunter father and reveals how the government has used dreams to control an ever-growing population of convicts and political dissenters.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
All the way to summer : stories of love and longing / Kidman, Fiona
“Fiona Kidman’s early stories about New Zealand women’s experiences scandalised readers with their vivid depictions of the heartbreaks and joys of desire, illicit liaisons and unconventional love. Her writing made her a feminist icon in the early 1980s, and she has since continued to tell the realities of women’s lives, her books resonating with many readers over the years and across the world. To mark her 80th birthday, this volume brings together a variety of her previously published stories as well as several that are new or previously uncollected; all moving, insightful and written with love. The final stories trace her own history of love, a memoir of significant people from childhood and beyond.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The angel’s cut / Knox, Elizabeth
” Boomtown Los Angeles, 1929: Into a world of movie lots and speakeasies comes Xas, stunt flier and wingless angel, still nursing his broken heart, and determined only to go on living in the air. But there are forces that will keep him on the ground. Forces like Conrad Cole, movie director and aircraft designer, a glory-seeking king of the grand splash who is also a man sinking into his own sovereign darkness. And Flora McLeod, film editor and maimed former actress, who sees something in Xas that no one has ever seen before, not even God, who made him, or Lucifer, the general he once followed – Lucifer, who has lost Xas once, but won’t let that be the end of it. ” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook. 
The infinite air / Kidman, Fiona
“Jean Batten became an international icon in the 1930s. A brave, beautiful woman, she made a number of heroic solo flights across the world. The newspapers couldn’t get enough of her; and yet she suddenly slipped out of view, disappearing to the Caribbean with her mother and dying in obscurity in Majorca, buried in a pauper’s grave.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

 

The vintner’s luck / Knox, Elizabeth
“One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family’s vineyard when he stumbles on an angel. Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character. Compelling and erotic, The Vintner’s Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighboring chateau.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an Audiobook.

Iris and Me: Philippa Werry in conversation

Neil

“Be for once a white boat adrift, in debt to no lighthouse.”
― Robin Hyde

Iris Guiver Wilkinson, aka Robin Hyde, was one of the most remarkable and talented writers Aotearoa New Zealand has ever produced. A great writer who left behind a remarkable body of work.

Her adult life was marked by many challenges  – physical disability, mental illness, the difficulties of being an unmarried mother in the male-dominated, misogynistic society of the time.  There was another side to her life as well; her bravery, amazing drive, perseverance, determination and also her deep need to travel and journey and explore both in the physical sense and as a person.

Philippa Werry’s latest novel Iris and Me looks at Robin Hyde’s entire life, touching on her both her childhood and her final days, but the book is primarily focussed on her time in China and her journey there, including her time as a war correspondent during the Sino-Japanese War.

When Philippa offered us the opportunity to interview her about  Iris and Me and the life and times of Robin Hyde, we jumped at it.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Philippa for taking the time to answer our questions and for providing such an illuminating insight into both her work and the life and world of Robin Hyde. We would also like to thank The Cuba Press for arranging the interview.

You can watch the video below, or on our YouTube channel. You can borrow Philippa’s previous books from the library; see a small selection below.

Iris and Me / Werry, Philippa
“Philippa Werry’s  latest novel Iris and Me looks at Robin Hyde’s  entire life touching on her both her childhood and final days , but the book is primarily focussed on her time in China and her journey there. Including her time as a War correspondent during the Sino-Japanese War.” ( Adapted from catalogue)

 

Armistice Day : the New Zealand story : what it is and why it matters / Werry, Philippa
“At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year New Zealanders remember the end of the First World War. Armistice Day, Philippa Werry’s new book for children, commemorates the day when fighting stopped in Europe. Partnered with best-selling Anzac Day, it makes an excellent reference for the whole family. Kiwi soldiers returned home to a terrible influenza epidemic, as the population grieved for the loss of life. Memorials were erected and families sought to return to the battlefields overseas to visit graves of their loved ones. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Harbour Bridge : Auckland, 1958-59 / Werry, Philippa
“Auckland in the 1950s: a time of rock’n’roll, milk bars, bodgies and widgies and teenage rebellion. The Auckland Harbour Bridge is under construction. Simon likes watching the bridge being built, and talking to his uncle and his mates about what’s happening on site. Meanwhile, Simon’s best friend Marty is obsessed with the Space Race and younger sister Jo can’t stop worrying about the fate of the dogs and monkeys that are the world’s first space travellers. Everyone says that life on the North Shore will change once the bridge is finished …but what does that mean for Simon and his family?” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Lighthouse family : coastal New Zealand, 1941-42 / Werry, Philippa
“For Frances and her family, living on a lighthouse, the war is both far away and scarily close. There are rumours of submarines in the Pacific. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, taken Singapore and bombed Darwin, so what’s to stop them invading New Zealand next? But soon Frances, the only girl on the island, will have more to worry about than the threat of a Japanese invasion”–Publisher’s information. Includes brief factual information about World War two, Japanese in New Zealand and lighthouses.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

The New Zealand Wars / Werry, Philippa
“The story of the 19th century New Zealand Wars, a part of New Zealand’s history that many people wish they knew more about. The book describes how the wars came about, where and when they were fought, who was involved, and how they affected women and children. It explains the emergence of Kīngitanga or Māori King movement, the land confiscations and the story of Parihaka. Other chapters look at war memorials, graves and monuments, the work of the Waitangi Tribunal, how the wars have featured in New Zealand art, music and literature, and how they are being remembered today, including new ways of working towards understanding and reconciliation.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Enemy at the gate / Werry, Philippa
“It’s December 1936 when the first polio cases are suspected. Soon a polio epidemic is sweeping the country. Schools are closed, swimming pools and movie theatres banned to children, and travel is restricted. Tom is the best runner in the school, but you can’t outrun polio, and nobody knows when it will strike next.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Waitangi Day : the New Zealand story : what it is and why it matters / Werry, Philippa
“Reviews the historic events behind the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and charts the celebrations, tensions and protests witnessed in the years that followed, concluding with a summary of the Waitangi Day events held around the country on 6th February today.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Quarantine / Werry, Philippa
“”Being in quarantine sounds like being in prison”, I said, shivering. Lily nodded.” A bit like that. Except that the prison is your own home”. It might sound familiar in 2021, but this is New Zealand in 1936-37. The disease is infantile paralysis, or polio, and nobody knows where it will strike next. When even the adults are afraid, Tom finds refuge in his dream-to run in the Olympics like his hero, Olympic champion Jack Lovelock.” (Adapted from Catalogue)