Anticipation...

Displays are done, anticipation mounting...Who will win the title of New Zealand Book of the Year? There are many stars among this year's finalists for the New Zealand Post Book Awards. The stellar cast includes the Man Booker winner The Luminaries, Ron Sang's gorgeous book about Greer Twiss, local publisher CPP's Promoting Prosperity and Jill Trevelyan's terrific biography of Peter McLeavey.
Winners will be announced next Wednesday!

Elizabeth Knox in conversation with Stella Chrysostomou

Award winning New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox ( Wake  The Vintners Luck Dreamhunter Dreamquake) in conversation with 'our Stella'  at Nelson's Elma Turner Library.

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Guess which author came in to the bookshop today for a first look at his namesake book?

Maurice Gee is a delightful regular visitor to the bookshop, and today we were privileged to share with him his first look at this book. The book is the first of two that pay tribute to Maurice Gee's distinctive contribution to New Zealand literature.

Maurice Gee:A Literary Companion Fiction for Young Readers

The art of illustration

 Donovan Bixley, award winning illustrator of numerous books including 'The Three Bears...sort of' gave a fantastic workshop to an audience of enthralled children and adults.

Donovan showed us how changes in expression can be created by subtly altering eyebrows and mouth.

A queue of eager attendees waiting for their books to be signed.

Grasshopper's Week

It was our great pleasure to launch Grasshopper's Week tonight. Published by Craig Potton Publishing, written by lovely (local) Tania Norfolk & illustrated by her brother Chris Norfolk.
Wonderful to have their families and friends celebrating and supporting Tania's debut children's book.

 

Book connection: Jan's introduction to her life in Mangakino was through Frances Keinzley's book Tangahano and ...

In 1961 Jan lived in Mangakino when resident Frances Keinzley published her first novel, Tangahano. According to the Oxford Companion to NZ Literature Tangahano 'survives as a vivid social document of a 1950's construction town.'  Chatting about books as we do, customer Clancy Hunt mentioned that she was Frances Keinzley's daughter, and supplied us with this photo of some of her other books, which have been translated into several languages.  Keinzley seems to have been more critically acclaimed overseas than in her own country.

Leunig Antics

Why, oh why is there so much stock?

Leunig is coming to Town! He deserves a window display....

Aleksandra & Daniel Mizielinski

We hosted authors Daniel and Aleksandra Mizielinski at Red Gallery this afternoon. They were signing their books H.O.U.S.E and D.E.S.I.G.N as well as previewing their new titles Maps, Welcome to Mamoko, and Welcome to Mamoko in the year 3000 (due out in April)

 Daniel and Aleksandra signing for the crowd. The kids brought their own designs to show the authors.

Sophie and her personalised copy of H.O.U.S.E

A Regular Visitor (Lucky Us)

Here's Maurice Gee, (a regular visitor in the shop - lucky us!), holding up a recently republished memoir. It's part of  an excellent new series of essays from Bridget Williams Books. They've just arrived in the shop.

Karen Healey!

Young adult author and Nebula Award Nominee Karen Healey popped in this morning to sign copies of her latest book When We Wake, and to purchase fellow nominee Jaclyn Moriarty's A Corner of White. We always love it when authors pop in to say hi and have a chat. It's great to put a face to a name.

Launching Cross Creek Return

We launched Cross Creek Return at the library this afternoon. Author Irene Swadling on the right above, and her sister-in-law Heather.

A tragic accident in 1880 on the Rimutaka Incline leaves young George traumatised. His premonition of danger before the event is parallelled by events experienced by his grandfather, an emigrant to Nelson in 1842. the growth of the Colony of Nelson and the 77 years of the Rimutaka Incline Railway, with its Fell engines, set the background of this novel.

Author visit

Excellent teen author Fleur Beale popped in for a visit this morning and very kindly signed some of her books for us. She is in Nelson researching her new book which I personally am very excited for.