Folding Task #216

National Poetry Day is nearly here. Today our folding tasks included the delightful 

Poem in Your Pocket giveaway. 

You can pop by the shop to grab one for your pocket or download 

and F.Y.O (fold-your-own).

National Poetry Day is Friday 22nd August 

We will be having an event in the shop from 4pm.

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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A bag of delicious cookbooks...

Jennifer has a bag full of cookbooks from our special selection of great cookbooks at reduced prices. Jennifer's books are destined to be gifts, although with such a tempting selection they might be difficult to give away.

Q: How do booksellers celebrate winning the title "New Zealand Bookshop of the Year 2014"?

A: We do it very well indeed!
Here's a few photos from our fabulous evening out at Styx restaurant last night:

Tim, Ann and Marie

It was Lucy's last evening out with us, with  baby #2 now imminent.

Although she was a tad sad when Stella made her hand back her shop keys! We'll miss you Lucy!

Sarah, Susi and Peter

Stella and Thomas (who claims he IS smiling in the photo!)

Susi, Peter, Lynn and Lucy

We tried to catch Jan without a camera in hand

A happy match: Peter the bookseller poses with Bookbinders Brew (no, he'd not overindulged, it was just a happy evening).

Not one to be outdone,  Stella opted to pose with two (no, she'd not overindulged either, it was just a happy evening).

 

We ended the evening with a farewell presentation to our Tim and Susi..

 

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.

Changes afoot!

 

From the 21st July the new owners of Page and Blackmore will be Ann and Peter Rigg. They have decided they are not yet ready to retire and instead have purchased Susi and Tim Blackmore's share of the business. The team are all staying and looking forward to the future.

Farewell Lucy, trivial pursuit and a sunny Sunday ...

Last night we all gathered together for a sendoff for our lovely Lucy (she's about to publish a new edition/addition, watch this space!) After a delightful meal we launched into trivial pursuit.  I was blown away by the depth of knowledge our accumulation of booksellers displayed. Virtually no trivia was too elusive for one or other of them not to know the answer! Bookselling provides great practice in the art though.  Our customers have such a wonderfully diverse range of  queries and reading needs and we have great adventures finding the right book for each one. Today, on a sunny Sunday in the bookshop  I learned about tea cosies and meditation, mah jong and model railways, sidestepped into Leunig then did a quick backflip into whales, followed by a good old rummage through the fiction and then straight on into travel writing ... that was just helping customers during the first half hour from opening.

Howling at the moon

Tonight we experience a phenomenon that won't occur again until 2049. A full moon, on Friday the 13th. So watch out for black cats, ladders, werewolves and nudists dancing on the beach.

Temptations

Many boxes have arrived and Ann has started unpacking our special winter selection of craft and art books. Here's a quick snap to tempt you... come to our Crafty Afternoon Tea this weekend and you can browse with tea & chocolate.

Rosie Belton & Wild Blackberries

A delightful evening with Rosie Belton. Rosie has been touring the country talking about her new book Wild Blackberries (pub. by Allen & Unwin). It was very lovely to have her at the bookshop tonight, with family and friends, talking about her love of cooking and the pleasures of food.

(Stella & Rosie take a quick break)

NZ Music Month Winner

Congratulations to Peter (he promised to share the chocolate with his wife!)

Totally fair

The annual Founders Book Fair is a great way to find a stack of books you weren't particularly looking for (and, by donating, to make room on your shelves for more).

31 May - 8 June. 10am-4:30pm.

We'll probably see you there!

The Winner Takes It All

Congratulations to Peter who was the lucky winner of our New Zealand Music Month giveaway.

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.

 

Our own in-store minstrel...

For a time today the normal classical music played in the shop was replaced by the gorgeous tones of Jacquie Walters.

Grasshopper's Week

We are very privileged to be launching a new children's book by local author Tania Norfolk, published by Craig Potton Publishing. This Thursday May 29th, 5pm at the shop. All ages welcome.

Anticipation

The crowd gathers to hear Michael Leunig!

Sold Out!

We are very much looking forward to Michael Leunig's talk tomorrow evening. Unfortunately if you do not yet have tickets, we are now completely sold out. If you do have tickets, we look forward to seeing you there.

The varied roles of a bookseller....

Little Miss Reading Books in her favourite place.....a bookshop, of course.

Today it was all aboard for an afternoon of fun on the Great Red Double-Decker Reading Bus