Books and More Issue 16 April/May 2015

Books and More

What’s in this issue?

Welcome from Cath Reviews from our Readers Farewell from Kaye Lally Ronald Hugh Morrieson Maoritanga Resources New Books Christian Fiction ANZAC LibraryPlus Information

Welcome Welcome to the second issue of Books and More for 2015, it’s amazing how quickly the months fly by. In recent weeks we have welcomed Shelley Davenport to the Patea and Waverley Branch Librarian role.

Shelley comes to us from the Youth Space at Palmerston North City Library and loves working and living in a small community.

By the time you read this we will have farewelled Kaye Lally, Branch Librarian at Hawera LibraryPlus. Kaye has been with us for around 10 years, and we will miss her skills and passion for great customer service. Enjoy your (second try at) retirement Kaye.

LIANZA (Library and Information Assoc of New Zealand Aotearoa) have their annual conference in November and this is the time of year when librarians and other professionals apply to present at the conference.

Presenting is good for people’s confidence, their career and their CV, and is also good for the wider library community as ideas and innovations are shared amongst colleagues. I’ve worked with eight librarians from around the country over the last couple of weeks, helping them polish their applications to present. I’m proud that three staff from South Taranaki are amongst those eight; we are fortunate to have passionate, skilled staff who are prepared to step up and be part of the wider profession in New Zealand.

You can find me on Twitter as KiwiLibrarian or feel free to drop into my office in Hawera LibraryPlus if there’s something you would like to discuss. You can also email me on cath.sheard@stdc.govt.nz.

Cath Sheard RLIANZA ALIANZA

Reviews from our Readers

In Touch with Grace Jenny Pattrick

The Emperor Far Away David Eimer

The Girl in the Yellow Vest Loretta Hill

Yet another great book by this New Zealand author.

This one is set in a middle class suburb and concerns the life of Grace, an elderly widow. She belongs to the local bowls club and this is where she finds most of her social interaction but she also has a very good friend in Mildred, another widow.

She comes across an old flame and breaks the calm flow of her very even life when they become friends in the nicest possible way.

A fascinating book! Full of information about people and places well beyond the usual traveller’s writing.

This is the first romantic novel of Loretta Hill’s that I have read, she sets them in an engineering background which is unusual but her knowledge of this world allows her to write about being a woman in this mainly men’s domain.

The author brings her characters to life and the reader becomes their friend, so well does she capture the ups and downs of old age. A lovely book and very highly recommended.

Reviewed by Roger

David Eimer has become familiar with the distant regions of China as he has visited them over the years and records his personal encounters with people and his understanding of the political changes of the past as well as present developments.

Well worth reading but needs concentration!

Love the cover - look at it carefully then read the back cover to identify it.

Reviewed by Heather

It was a predictable storyline but easy to read and while away a few hours. So if you are looking for romance in a different setting and based in Australia look out for this author she has written three of these novels so far.

Reviewed by Lynne If you would like to see your reviews featured here, go to ils.stdc.govt.nz and add a comment on the book you are reading.

Farewell Now it’s Good Bye from me…

31 March is my last day as Branch Librarian, Hawera LibraryPlus, a job I have thoroughly enjoyed for the past almost 7 years. No, I’m not moving away – I’m retiring, something I tried to do 10 years ago when we left Auckland.

Instead I was enticed to help out at Opunake LibraryPlus and had a very happy time there for a couple of years – so much so that I was wishing we had bought a house in Opunake rather than in Normanby. Fortunately for family harmony the Hawera job became vacant so I could work and live in the same community.

It has been a great pleasure to me to get to know Hawera customers and to serve them as best I can. I love every aspect of the work eg preschool storytime, summer reading, wrangling teenagers, helping young parents, sharing books with keen readers, finding information for anyone on anything, answering local and family history queries and, of course, helping with Council related payments and queries.

I love that today with the Internet I can use resources that in the past I’d only have in a big city or university library. Of course, all of these are about helping people, and it’s our customers, big and small, local and visitors, I will miss though I expect I will see many of you when I am out and about. I just won’t be able to say any more that I am ‘Kaye from the Library”.

- Kaye Lally

Ronald Hugh Morrieson Run by the South Taranaki District LibraryPlus and sponsored by the Lysaght-Watt Trust, these Awards honour the life and work of Hawera’s Ronald Hugh Morrieson.

In 2015, the Awards will be held between 21 May (with open section workshops) through to 31 July (closing date of the competition).

Morrieson, who spent all his life in Hawera, is the acclaimed author of several novels including Predicament and Came a Hot Friday. His novels have been made into feature films and were filmed locally in South Taranaki.

Each year the competition gives entrants the opportunity to showcase their writing skills; be guided and critiqued by a well-known New Zealand author; and finally to be honoured for their work.

The awards encompass two elements: writing/poetry workshops with a New Zealand author and a poet; followed by the writing competition (judged by the same author/ poet). Each section has a secondary school component and an open component.

Schools are invited to attend workshops throughout the region.

Open Mic Poetry Night There will be an Open Mic Poetry Night on Thursday 21 May at 7pm.

This is an annual Ronald Hugh Morrieson event that is held at Morrieson’s Café and Bar in Hawera. It is for poets or anyone that enjoys poetry to go along and share with others their work.

Ronald Hugh Morrieson poetry section judge Sue Wootton will also be at the Open Mic Night.

This is a free event to attend.

Please contact Pam Jones on 0800 111 323 to register.

Ronald Hugh Morrieson Poet Sue Wootton

Sue Wootton is a poet and writer who spent her childhood in Wanganui and now lives in Dunedin, writing, editing and teaching. She has written three collections of poetry, a children’s book, and a short story collection. Her screenplay Bleat was produced as a short film by Short Film Otago in 2014. She was placed second in the 2013 International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, and has won several other awards for her writing, including the 2015 Caselburg Trust International Poetry Prize, the 2013 Victorian Cancer Council Poetry Award, the 2011 NZ Poetry Society, the 2010 Takahe and 2007 Inverawe (Tasmania) international poetry competitions, and both the fiction and the poetry prizes in the 2006 Aoraki Literary Festival competition. Her story Virtuoso was a winner in the 2008 NZ Book Month “Six Pack” competition. Sue has been shortlisted for the Sunday Star Times story competition and has twice been a runner up in the BNZ Katherine Mansfield fiction competition. She held the 2008 Robert Burns Fellowship.

Author Mandy Hager

Mandy Hager is a multi-award winning writer of fiction for young adults. She has won the LIANZA Book Awards for Young Adult fiction three times, The NZ Post Book Awards for YA fiction, Word Weaver’s Excellence Award 2002 and five Notable Book awards. She has also been awarded the 2012 Beatson Fellowship, the 2014 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship and is currently the Waikato University Writer in Residence.

Hager also writes adult fiction, short story, non fiction, education resources, blogs and articles and currently tutors the novel course for Whitireia’s Creative Writing programme.

Workshops

The 2015 Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards will begin with both writing and poetry workshops that are open to the public in Hawera on Saturday 21 May. These workshops are free to attend.

If you are interested please contact your local LibraryPlus or Pam Jones to register for the workshop.

Spaces are limited and registrations open Friday 1 May.

Maoritanga Resources Maoritanga Resources available at your South Taranaki LibraryPlus!

South Taranaki Libraries have a range of Maoritanga resources all available to be borrowed.

This collection includes a wide range of hītori (history), toi (arts), waiata (song) and kōrero (story). There are also a number of biographies in the collection.

Anyone with a LibraryPlus card or a Stratford library card can borrow any of these resources. If you don’t have a library card then why not sign up for one? It’s free and very easy - all you need to do is pop on in to your local LibraryPlus and ask for a library card.

South Taranaki Libraries are always updating this collection, however if you feel there is something missing, why not let us know and one of the friendly staff can help you with a suggestion to buy.

New Books

Television producer Laurie Moran is delighted when the pilot for her reality drama, Under Suspicion, is a success. Even more, the program - a cold case series that revisits unsolved crimes by recreating them with those affected - is off to a fantastic start when it helps solve an infamous murder in the very first episode.

Now Laurie has the ideal case to feature in the next episode of Under Suspicion: the Cinderella Murder. When Susan Dempsey, a beautiful and multi-talented UCLA student, was found dead, her murder raised numerous questions. Why was her car parked miles from her body? Had she ever shown up for the acting audition she was due to attend at the home of an up-and-coming director? Why does Susan’s boyfriend want to avoid questions about their relationship? Was her disappearance connected to a controversial church that was active on campus? Was she close to her computer science professor because of her technological brilliance, or something more? And why was Susan missing one of her shoes when her body was discovered?

My name is Nicky Frank. I’m in hospital after crashing my car. I am afraid. The only thing that I can think about is Vero. I know I have to save her but why couldn’t I find her? She’s just a little girl. The man standing in my hospital room tells me we are married but there is no Vero. That six months ago I suffered a traumatic brain injury which caused changes to my personality. I have dramatic mood swings, an inability to concentrate and large gaps in my memory. I’m much easier to anger these days. And I drink. All of which he says explains the car accident and my confusion. Now a Sergeant Wyatt Foster is investigating. He has questions about the car accident. He has concerns about my husband. And he’s worried about a missing girl. He would like to know what happened to me.

These reviews are from the Good Reads website.

To view more reviews about other new books check out www.goodreads.com

Christian Fiction

Christian Fiction A Christian novel is any novel that expounds and illustrates a Christian world view in its plot, its characters, or both, or which deals with Christian themes in a positive way.

South Taranaki Libraries have a forever growing collection of Christian Fiction novels. You can browse the shelves for them, or view them on the library catalogue.

There is a range of different authors and if there is one that you are wanting to read, but we don’t have - then let one of the friendly staff know and they can assist you with putting in a suggestion to buy.

ANZAC

LibraryPlus Information Public Holidays April/May Friday 3 April Saturday 4 April Monday 6 April Tuesday 7 April

Closed Normal Hours Closed Normal Hours

Saturday 25 April Monday 27 April Tuesday 28 April

Closed Closed Normal Hours

Like Us. Share Us. Follow Us. Tweet Us

South Taranaki Libraries have a number of social media pages. You can find us at 'South Taranaki LibraryPlus' on all our social media.