Commemorating peaceful protest – Parihaka

Human beings. We can be a bit disappointing sometimes can’t we? We’re often very easily swayed by things that are bright and shiny rather than other more meaningful things.

Take for instance the event we usually commemorate on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Day. Four hundred years ago in England a group of people plotted to blow up the King and Parliament. The plot was foiled and Fawkes (among others) was caught , tried and executed.
And this would probably be no more than a barely remembered fact from high school history class if explosives weren’t involved. Because we love a bit of a fireworks display, we choose to remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot.

Parihaka, a very different kind of protest, doesn’t get as much attention even though it’s far more recent and took place in our own country.

Parihaka by Josiah Martin, [ca 1880], Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Accession No. 1997/34/7

The Māori settlement of Parihaka, Taranaki was home to around 2000 people. In the wake of the Land Wars many Māori had become dispossessed as the Government of the time had undertaken “confiscations” of land. A movement to resist this acquisition and occupation of Māori land had grown, but rather than warfare, peaceful means were used to undermine Government “ownership” of disputed lands. Surveyor pegs were removed, fences were built, fields were ploughed.

By 1881 the Government determined that this peaceful but disruptive protest should come to an end, so on 5 November a militia and armed constabulary of 1500 men invaded the settlement of Parihaka. They were met without resistance. The settlement, and its surrounding crops were eventually destroyed. The leaders of the movement  Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi were sent south and jailed, as were a number of men, some of whom never returned.

So, in both cases the Government of the day is accused of injustice – one group chooses a violent protest, the other a peaceful one – but it’s the former that we commemorate. Hmmm. Interesting.

But should you want to pay tribute to the fearless, peaceful protestors of Parihaka you have the opportunity. Lyttelton Community House invite you to attend their Annual Parihaka Remembrance service. This will be held on Thursday, 5th November, 10am at the Lyttelton Rose Garden – (Former Gaol site). From there you are also invited to attend a second service that will be held at the memorial stone next to the church at Rapaki at 11am. Light refreshments will be served afterwards. Please phone Christine on 741-1427 if you require further information.

Or at the very least, you could spend Thursday humming this pop classic by Tim Finn.

Rick Riordan’s Introduction to Norse Mythology

Rick Riordan, the creator of Percy Jackson, has just released the first book in his new series.  Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard follows Rick’s new character, Magnus Chase, as he tries to prevent the end of the world, Ragnarok. If you love Percy Jackson you’ll love this new series.  You can reserve your copy at the library now.

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he is tracked down by a man he’s never met a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god. The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants, and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years. When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

If you read Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer and want to find out more about Norse mythology or read more stories featuring the Norse gods we have the perfect book list for you.  We’ve just created an If you like…Norse Mythology for Kids booklist that has some great books that you could try next, including:

• Francesca Simon’s The Sleeping Army and The Lost Gods, about the Norse Gods in present day Britain.
• D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths, which includes the original myths and legends about the Norse gods and monsters.

Who’s going to see Courtney Barnett live at The Foundry?

…Rebecca Taekema (and her “plus one”)

Congratulations, Rebecca and thanks to everyone who entered!

Here’s how some of you answered our competition question: What book would you recommend to Courtney Barnett to read while on tour?

“Something by Haruki Murakami. Perhaps The Wind-up Bird Chronicle because of the cats. Melancholic yet comforting and uplifting and intriguing, much like Courtney’s music :)”

“Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne because it’s not too long, is very NZ, and the writing is amazing and inspiring.”

“Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame for all the above reasons and I reckon Courtney would love Janet.”

“Maybe a novel about another musician like Sarah Laing’s Dead People’s Music or she might be interested in Kevin Hill’s new book”

“Kim Gordon’s Girl in A Band and Carrie Brownstein’s Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl :)”

Other suggestions included –

• My Struggle
• Megahex

Tickets are still available for Courtney Barnett’s show at The Foundry, Friday 7 November.

The Secret Lives of New Zealand Children’s Authors

Which New Zealand illustrator often gets chocolate on her artwork? Which New Zealand author once wet her pants in fright? Whose nickname is Giggleswick? Who loves to eat strawberry sandwiches? You can find out the answer to all of these questions in our New Zealand Children’s Author pages.

In our New Zealand Children’s Author pages we have interviews with New Zealand children’s authors and illustrators.  You can find out their favourite foods and authors, embarrassing moments, nicknames, what they were like at school and much more.  You’ll find interviews with authors like Margaret Mahy, Des Hunt, Elizabeth Pulford and Melinda Szymanik.  Some of our featured authors have even written short stories that you can read anywhere, anytime.  There is Giant Jimmy Jones by Gavin Bishop, The McGoodys by Joy Cowley, and It’s Quackers Around Here by Maria Gill.

We’ve added two more interviews recently, with R.L. Stedman (author of A Necklace of Souls) and Sue Copsey (author of The Ghosts of Tarawera).

This week we are celebrating New Zealand Book Week so there is no better time to check out these fun, entertaining interviews with some of our wonderful New Zealand authors and illustrators.

Off the shelf (2)

As followers of our blog will know, voracious reader Robyn has been sharing with us on a regular basis the titles that she has been adding to her For Later shelf. This time she reports back on some of the titles that have graduated to her Completed shelf.

An art theme to some books that came off the For Later shelf recently.

Gothic Wonder by Paul Binski
A beautiful book. All the images are lovely to look at but my best ones are the gargoyles and the manuscripts. Favourite chapter is called the Pleasures of Unruling, featuring the unforgettable phrase ‘genitalia in marginalia’.  Gothic Churches were so expensive the monks were “very eager to highlight any financially winning miraculous or semi-miraculous events”. Finding a cache of coins was popular – a sure sign that God would provide and it was O.K. to just keep building.

Everything Is Happening by Michael Jacobs
It’s good to look at things in detail sometimes, but lots of words on lots of pages on one work of art can be very daunting. This look at Velásquez’s painting Las Meninas (‘the maids of honour’ in Spanish) is both detailed and short. But it still manages to say some fresh things about a work that has been analyzed more than most.

Francis Bacon in Your Blood by Michael Peppiatt
Francis Bacon is a great and terrifying artist. He is also reputed to have said: “Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends”. Two reasons to read a book about him.

What books have moved off your For Later shelf recently?

Wrapped up in bookshops – NZ Bookshop Day Saturday 31 October

Saturday 31 October is the inaugual NZ Bookshop Day. Pay a visit to a local favourite, or try someplace new.

Here’s a grab-bag of my Christchurch bookshop hangouts (do tell about your faves in the comments):

then

• East’s Bookshop – perfectly centrally located for a browse,  saw Jasper Fforde talk there.
• Smith’s Bookshop on Manchester Street – a cornucopia of books, you could lose yourself for hours in its rambling bookwilderness.
• Scorpio – like a platter of temptation. (bought a book about typography called Just my Type)
• Book city – by the IRD. I used to go there a lot with my Dad on work lunchtime rambles. The books are still in there if you peer in. (bought a book about Bronzino)
• That shop by South City that had loads of Taschen books. (Pierre et Gilles)
• The Children’s Bookshop – when I was a new Mum, me and my wee girl were always hanging out on Victoria Street. (Mouk)

now

• Scorpio Books, still. The bijoux one in the Re: START, with an occasional foray to Riccarton for the big brother shop. (Bought books by Morrissey, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker  etc)
• Best books – a pop up book store, a fab part of the new Christchurch. (as pictured)
• The new Smith’s Bookshop at the Tannery in Woolston. (bought High noon for coaches)
• Edgeware Paperback Centre. Shelves everywhere, heaving with books. (Bought Gwenda Turner ABC and a Raymond Briggs book)
• University Bookshop – oh boy, not just for students. (bought a little book about bookshops)
• Comics Compulsion in Papanui – a regular visit now is part of our lives. Comics rule! (Bob the Burger and My Little Pony comics)

To all the bookshops – and the people who make you tick and hum – you are the goodies. Love your work.

More about NZ Bookshop Day

• Like NZ Bookshop Day on Facebook.
• Read NZ bookshops: Thriving, Not just surviving from Booksellers New Zealand.
• Read our librarian Zac on the Original Children’s Bookshop – The Bookshop that grew me.

What’s on in Christchurch

There’s a Snap me reading photo competition and an All Good: A New Zealand Colouring Competition.

Booksellers list of what’s on – here’s the Christchurch events:

Piccadilly Books – Celebrate your bookshop with your children! Bring the children in-store at 11m for a playful interactive storytelling show with Kirsty Collett, author of Fly Story Fly and while your young ones are being amused there is something for the Mums and Dads happening at the same time, internationally acclaimed postnatal educator, author, director and practitioner of BabyCues, Philippa Murphy will be in-store to chat to parents and sign copies of her book.

The Original Children’s Bookshop Christchurch
It’s Halloween, so dress up!  Spot prizes for the best costume, colouring competitions for all ages – win books, gift vouchers, Book Tokens and a Hugless Douglas toy and slippers.  Local illustrator Jenny Cooper will be instore from 11.00am – 2.00 pm and Helen Taylor will join her at noon and be here until 3.00pm.  At 2.30pm community librarian Zac McCallum will be here for story telling.

University Bookshop Canterbury  – Banned Book Quiz – Test your knowledge and be into Win!In celebration of NZ Bookshop Day UBS is running a banned/challenged book quiz. Penguin Random House, Walker Books, Hachette, HarperCollins and Nationwide Books have all kindly donated items for their awesome gift pack. Come in and give it a try! The winner will be announced on the 2nd of November.

Paper Plus Northlands – Conversation Couch & Speed Dating
Paul Cleave and Joe Bennett will be taking pride of place on a “conversation couch” at the front of the store where customers can join them for a beer/wine to discuss their books, or any other book/topic of their choosing. Kind of like speed dating with a famous author…

Scorpio Books – Meet with Local Authors and Poets
Patrick Evans, Being Eaten Alive, Making It and Gifted will be instore in the morning and over lunchtime meet Fiona Farrell, The Broken Book, The Quake Year and The Villa at the Edge of the Empire and during the afternoon meet with poets Jeffrey Paparoa Holman and Frankie McMillan. Enter the Colouring In competition and visit the store to be in to “Win Your Height In Books”.

Kia ora Keri – 30 years ago Keri Hulme won the Booker Prize for Fiction

‘You’re not pulling my leg, are you? … Bloody hell – it’s totally unbelievable!’

That’s what Keri Hulme said when she won the Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize) on 31 October 1985 – nearly 30 years ago. She scooped up New Zealand’s first Booker Prize with her debut novel the bone people.

It’s a book that New Zealanders have engaged with in a unique way. At last year’s Auckland Writers Festival, it was acclaimed the inaugural Great Kiwi Classic. I think I was at uni when I read it. It was unlike anything read before, or since.

There’s a great piece in Booknotes unbound where some booky people talk about the bone people. Peter Simpson reproduces part of his 1984 review:

…The Bone People might be seen not only as a cultural document of immense significance to New Zealanders of all races and as a major novel in its own right, but also as an important advance in the development of New Zealand fiction, effecting a new synthesis of the previously separate Maori and Pakeha fictional traditions.

Librarian Jacqui (purplerulz) said of Keri Hulme: “She’s a polarising author, but the bone people was wondrous for me, her use of words, description of the landscape and the people who lived in it were so evocative to me and when I travelled to the southern West Coast after that, it made all the more sense”:

The wind has dropped. It is growing very dark. The shag line has gone back to Maukiekie, bird after bird beating forward in the wavering skein. The waves suck at the rocks and leave them reluctantly. We will come back ssssoooo… they hiss from the dark.

For a full account of Keri’s Booker win, read Keri Hulme’s Bone people wins Booker Prize.

I am a fan of Keri’s writing in Te Karaka. Here’s a recent piece on the NZ flag debate.

I am a vexillologist manqué, you see. I love flags and learning about them and flying them whenever I can, whenever it is appropriate …The one flag I never flew was the official New Zealand ensign. It is dreary and derivative, and has never spoken to my mind or heart.

Kia ora Keri, always someone who speaks to the mind, and to the heart.

• Our page on Keri Hulme
• Find items by Keri Hulme in our collection.
• Find items about Keri Hulme in our collection.
• Keri Hulme – NZ Book Council biography.
• Keri Hulme’s posts in Te Karaka
• Keri Hulme’s work at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
• Read Keri Hulme’s Words for Christchurch, 2011
• Keri Hulme’s final interview 16 May 2014, Campbell Live
• Read Wellywood Woman’s in depth post the bone people

New Zealand Book Week & the Rugby World Cup!

It’s New Zealand Book Week and the final of the Rugby World Cup. How will we cope? What will we read? I’ve got it covered, so just relax and enjoy the ride.

Leading up to the game.

Followed by.

Opening play.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Half time sustenance.

And, of course, the back-up plan.

How will you make it through the week?

Go, the All Blacks!

• Browse New Zealand Fiction at Christchurch City Libraries
• Read about Rugby and the Rugby World Cup
• Read about early Rugby in Christchurch

Read all about it at the British Newspaper Archive

At the British Library, there are over 32 kilometres of shelving that contain bound volumes of newspapers and over 13 kilometres of newspaper microfilm. Until now, the only way to view these newspapers was to visit the British Library and of course it was not possible to search them – until now.

The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership with the British Library to begin digitising this huge collection and make it available to researchers including us here in Christchurch.

What can I search?

• News Articles – read about national events, as well as issues of local and regional importance;
• Family Notices – search for your family’s birth, marriage and death notices plus related announcements including engagements, anniversaries, birthdays and congratulations;
• Letters – read letters to the editor illuminating contemporary debates, aspirations and anxieties;
• Advertisements – these include classifieds, shipping notices and appointments;
• Illustrations – see photographs, engravings, graphics, maps and editorial cartoons.

So how do I start?

Due to license restrictions you can only access this eResource inside your local library. You will also need to first create your own account using your email address and password once you enter. Once this is done, you can freely access all content and organise all your research with your personal notes and bookmarks. My advice? Explore and be ready to lose track of time!

Trick or treat?

Halloween is upon us! It seems that everywhere we go, there are costumes and candy, and, in spite of many people being “dead” against it, it’s gaining momentum and getting bigger each year.

The word Halloween comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve, the eve of the Christian celebration of All Hallows’ Day. It initiates the three-day observance dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, martyrs and the faithful departed believers. If you are interested in learning more about it, we have a great book: Halloween, Its Origin, Rites and Ceremonies in the Scottish Tradition.

Halloween is celebrated by many cultures in many different ways, but the best known is the American way – a fun celebration where costumes are worn and children go trick-or-treating: door knocking asking for candy in exchange for not doing mischief.

In Japan the day is called Obon (Festival of Lanterns); in Mexico it is Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead); in Cambodia it is P’chum Ben, (Ancestors’ Day); in Romania it is Világítás (Day of the Dead). Samhain is a Gaelic celebration; in China it is Zhong Yuan Jie (Ghost Festival) and many other countries have a similar festivity. I suppose for us humans death is the last frontier and we want to make sense of it in any way we can. And if we can’t, then we will challenge and mock it by dressing up and eating lots of candy!

So what will you be doing? Will you be joining the fun by getting dressed up and making some ghoulish goodies and decorations? Or will you just have a quiet day of remembrance?