Waitangi Day in Christchurch and Canterbury – Monday 6 February 2017

Find out about Christchurch and Canterbury Waitangi Day celebrations in 2017.

6 February 2014. Rāpaki Marae citizenship ceremony. Flickr: 2014-02-06-Citizenship6Feb2014PR-0082. Photo supplied by Christchurch City Council.

Wai 262 Presentation – Linwood Library (Wednesday, 2 February, 6-7pm)

In the lead up to Waitangi Day, why not find out more about one of the most signficant Treaty claim made to date. Wai 262 is sometimes known as the “flora and fauna” or “intellectual property” claim. Noted academic, Sacha McMeeking will present a talk on this topic with time available for questions and answers.

Ngāi Tahu Treaty Festival Ōtākou Marae

Every year Ngāi Tahu commemorates Waitangi Day at one of three locations where the iwi signed the Treaty — Awarua, Ōtākou and Ōnuku. In 2017, the Ngāi Tahu Treaty of Waitangi commemorations are at Ōtākou Marae, Tamatea Road, Otago Peninsula.
Subscribe to the Ngāi Tahu Treaty of Waitangi commemorations event on Facebook.

Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum 1146 Main Road, Okains Bay

On Monday 6 February, the Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum has its 42nd annual family day to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Highlights include a pōwhiri (traditional welcome), hangi lunch, children’s races and the paddling of the magnificent waka on the Opara River 1pm. View the Museum’s collections and enjoy continuous demonstrations all day including bread baking in a traditional clay oven, master weavers, wood chopping and sheep shearing. Crafts, stalls, pony rides, lolly scramble, sausage sizzle, espresso coffee, garden bar, cafeteria and more.

Entrance cost: Adults $10, Children $2. Please bring cash. No ATM available. Gates open at 10am. Pōwhiri commences at 10:30am. Phone the Okains Bay Museum 03 304 8611 for more details.

Waka launch, Waitangi Day, Okain’s Bay, 6 February 1977 Flickr: HWC08-SO10

Waitangi Day celebrations at the Christchurch Art Gallery

Commemorate Waitangi Day at the Christchurch Art Gallery with performances, art and family-friendly activities that celebrate Aotearoa New Zealand and tangata whenua. The day will include including harakeke weaving, and a kapa haka demonstration at 1pm.This will be followed by a performance of Dudley Benson’s incredible ‘A Wedding’ at 3pm — a bold and visceral declaration of our relationship with the land, expressed through engaging pop music.

I love New Brighton Thomson Park, Marine Parade, New Brighton

The “I Love New Brighton” Annual Event is a local festival day that celebrates New Brighton — south, north, central and beyond. The 2017 event is at Thomson Park, Marine Parade from 11am to 3pm. Lots of free activities, have-a-go sports, market stalls, food stalls, bouncy castles, face painting, games and a LIVE stage featuring local bands.
Subscribe to the I love New Brighton event on Facebook.

Kaiapoi Waitangi Day Family Celebrations Troussellot Park, Kaiapoi

Kaiapoi’s Annual Waitangi Day family celebration event is on again at Trousselot Park, Kaiapoi from 10am to 2pm on Monday 6 February. Activities include: live entertainment, school kapa haka performances, market and food stalls, bouncy castle, pony rides, face painting and ‘walk about’ quiz. Support Kaiapoi High School and buy a hangi meal for lunch, tickets are on sale from the Kaiapoi i-site $10 each.

Waitangi Day Community Country Picnic Darfield

Free fun activities for the whole family at Darfield’s Waitangi Day Community Country Picnic. Pedalmania, bouncy castles, pony rides, petting zoo, games — plus market stalls and more. Bring a picnic and top up at the food stalls while listening to local storyteller and puppeteer Liz Weir. Local emergency services will be there including rides on the old fire engine with a lolly scramble. Join in a game of backyard cricket, enjoy a Devonshire tea, ice cream, candyfloss and lemonade.

More events on Waitangi Day

Find more Canterbury Waitangi weekend events listed in Eventfinda.

Find out more

• The Treaty of Waitangi
• The Treaty for kids
• Waitangi Day 2015 A DigitalNZ set of images and resources.

Tell you what #AotearoaReads

I confess I didn’t read all of the books in my eyewateringly large pile of holiday reads. But I accidentally went all #AotearoaReads and it was ACE.

First up, I finished Can you tolerate this? Personal essays by Ashleigh Young. She tells stories about her family and relationships, but also little histories that have captured her imagination – a boy with a rare skeletal disease, a French postman and his project with stones. This combination of the personal and something more expansive (in both space and time) is a winner. I gave this book to my little sister at Christmas time, and she has whisked it away to London (where today it is snowing). She’s going to love it.

Tell you What Great New Zealand Nonfiction 2017 is the third in a series of top writing from magazines, websites, and blogs – pieces so good that it feels good and proper to have them in print. They are anything but ephemeral.

Editors Jolisa Gracewood and Susanna Andrew have again created a brilliant buffet of thoughts and words. You can dip in anywhere and read something that’ll grip you to the last full stop. It’s joyously diverse in topic – kererū, Rugby World Cups, tikanga, Hudson and Halls. It is also geographically varied. The stories are not just set in Aotearoa but range from London to Iceland as well as Kiwi locales like Poplar Avenue and Ashdown Place.

Tell you what reminds me of listening to Radio New Zealand. You’ll find yourself deeply immersed in something you never knew about, and didn’t know you were interested in. That’s magic.

#AotearoaReads is the gift that keeps on giving well past the New Year. I’ve started reading Write to the Centre: Navigating Life With Gluestick and Words by Helen Lehndorf.

Other recent #AotearoaReads I loved:

• Hera Lindsay Bird
• The Gecko Annual (perfect school hols fodder – we have acted out some of the comics and played Naked Grandmother a few times)
• Mansfield and me Sarah Laing
• Let’s take a walk Nicole Phillipson, illustrated by Hannah Beehre
• The Chimes Anna Smaill
• Sam Zabel and the magic pen Dylan Horrocks
• The scene of the crime Steve Braunias
• The villa at the edge of the empire: One hundred ways to read a city Fiona Farrell
• In love with these times: My life with Flying Nun Records Roger Shepherd
• 101 works of art Christchurch Art Gallery
• Three words: An anthology of Aotearoa/NZ women’s comics
• Through the eyes of a miner: The photography of Joseph Divis Simon Nathan
• Grandma McGarvey
• Bungalow Patrick Reynolds
• Stuff I forgot to tell my daughter Michele A’Court

Find out more about the New Zealand Book Council’s Aotearoa Summer Reads.

Tell you what: Great New Zealand Nonfiction 2017
edited by Susanna Andrew and Jolisa Gracewood
Published by Auckland University Press
ISBN 9781869408602

Imagining a different Christchurch – Jessica Halliday and FESTA 2016

FESTA is a “biennial weekend celebration of urban creativity” and one of the coolest events on Ōtautahi’s calendar. It is on this Labour weekend, kicking off with the SuperWOW disco at the Dance-o-mat on Friday 21 October, and ending with PechaKucha on Monday 24 October at 7.30pm. The unmissable big event is Lean Means on Saturday 22 October.

I had a chat to FESTA’s director Jessica Halliday to get a flavour of FESTA 2016.

What is FESTA?

It is about creating a collective positive experience for the people of Christchurch and visitors.

FESTA helps people reconnect to the central city, to rebuild that severed relationship. A big street party is a positive experience, and connects them with places that are regenerating. It catalyses changes in architecture and design. The collective making of a big project like this is a microcosm of the cooperative way we can work together.

What’s on at FESTA 2016

Lean Means is on Saturday 22 October, and is the biggest event of FESTA with 10,000 to 15,000 people expected. There will be 18 projects to experience. The tallest is around 6 metres and most are about 4 metres. Some will be integrated into existing structures.

There is a full programme of events with a lot of workshops, speakers, and a symposium on the resuse of materials (organised by Rekindle working with Objectspace), and a session with artist Hannah Beehre on drawing Christchurch architecture. Events for kids include creative junk and mutant monster workshops.

If you want to experience a Human Library, Talking Books and Freerange Press bring together a collection of passionate experts on a range of topics including the state of the city,music, and brewing beer. You can book a twenty-minute, one-on-one conversation with a human talking book.

Utilising waste streams – Sustainability, Re-use

Jos de Krieger of Superuse Studios in Rotterdam is a specialist in urban installations and interventions and the creative director of FESTA 2016. He developed the concept, visited, and gave lectures and design workshops, and also met with New Zealand and Australian studios. The idea is to get a brief and a budget, then look for waste materials in the vicinity to be reused. Using such materials requires a lot of research.

The materials for Lean Means are lightweight – plastics, cardboard, bottles, post-consumer plastic bags and are local to the studios. The pavilion for the Ōtākaro Orchard is made of hundreds of metres of frost cloth from the Big Barn in Sydney – it can come over easily on the plane with the students as it’s so light.

Re-use is part of what FESTA is now. Students were re-using stuff anyway, with one of 2014’s projects using plastic bottle rejects on their way to China for recycling. They went on to be recycled after appearing at FESTA CityUps.

FESTA closes the loop with connections back to sustainability all the way through. Cassels will be there, and they are working on cleaning up the Heathcote, and Punky Brewster have a focus on reducing water in beer sales. There will be a second hand market with upcycled things for sale.

We are trying as best as we can to make it consistent.

CityUps, FESTA 2014, Flickr 2014-10-25-IMG_3049

Art and architecture

CreativeNZ funding has enabled three artists from three different disciplines to be involved: Juliet Arnott of Rekindle, artist Julia Morison and movement artist Julia Harvie.

Julia Morison has been integrated into a team from Massey University, School of Design at the College of Creative Arts. Her philosophy is that art shouldn’t be a “brooch pinned on at the end”, and that artists should be involved in informing the development of projects.

Moving artist Julia Harvie will suspending herself of the COCA gallery gantry and weave herself a nest from coppiced hazel shoots. The performance teases out ideas of making a city that nurtures children, and what parents can do to influence the creation of that environment.

Juliet Arnott is a strategic advisor to FESTA and is involved in the The Zero Waste Village of Resourcefulness:

Skilled craftspeople undertake high quality crafts that are zero waste in nature in a village of temporary shelters. These structures are designed and fabricated from waste materials by Ara students …

These three artists will appear at CoCAcabana on Friday night.

CityUps, FESTA 2014, Flickr 2014-10-25-IMG_3154

Why FESTA?

Experience a re-imagined Christchurch. Imagine a different Christchurch and present it as an experience, instead of a city made of renders.

What it could be, as well as what it is.

FESTA information

• FESTA website
• Like FESTA on Facebook
• Subscribe to FESTA events on Facebook
• Follow FESTA on Twitter
• Follow FESTA on Instagram
• See our photos of FESTA

How you can help Lean Means

Help FESTA transform Christchurch by supporting Lean Means, and share in a positive reimagining of the city – full of lights, colours and people. This Labour Weekend, we will transform central Christchurch with a large-scale reimagined city called Lean Means, live for one night only, free and open to all, on Saturday 22 October.

FESTA 2014 – CityUps

FESTA 2013 – Canterbury Tales

FESTA 2012 – LuxCity

Libraries and reading

As a kid, Jessica went every week to Hornby Library. Her main preoccupations were:

Reading, running around the farm, reading.

She enjoys Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge stories and is a keen fan of British comedy, especially panel shows like “Have I got news for you” and “Would I lie to you”.

Mothers of the Present: Christchurch women and the vote

On 19 September 1893 women in New Zealand got the vote. Campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, had fought for years for Māori and Pakeha women’s suffrage.

The Press editorial on 20 September 1893 stated:

We believe that a very large number of women do not desire to vote. [1]

Election day was Tuesday 28 November 1893. The Press reported:

The pretty dresses of the ladies and their smiling faces lighted up the polling booths most wonderfully, and one envied the returning officer and poll clerks whose duty it was to pass in review such a galaxy of beauty.[2]

About 10,000 Christchurch women voted, with only a few incidents:

At the Provincial Council Chamber some peculiar scenes took place. In one instance a man and his wife and daughter came to vote. The man first wished to go into the recess to instruct his wife how to vote. The poll clerks removed him. Then he went into where his daughter was recording her vote and wished to instruct her. This also he was prevented from doing much to his chagrin.[3]

40 years later the first woman was elected into the New Zealand Parliament. Christchurch woman Elizabeth McCombs had been heavily involved in working for the community. She won the Lyttelton seat in a by-election September 1933, after the death of her husband James. She held the seat until her death in June 1935. [4]

Elizabeth Reid McCombs, née Henderson (1873-1935) [between 1919 and 1925] CCL PhotoCD 6, IMG0028

100 years after women got the vote, the Kate Sheppard National Memorial was unveiled by Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard. The words on the Memorial end with the words of The White Ribbon editor, Nelly Perryman, from 1918:

We, the mothers of the present need to impress upon our children’s minds how the women of the past wrestled and fought, suffered and wept, prayed and believed, agonised and won for them the freedom they enjoy today.[5]

Kate Sheppard National Memorial. Flickr 2014-09-19-IMG_2212

Suffrage resources

• Find information about women’s suffrage in New Zealand in our collection
• Kate Sheppard
• The Kate Sheppard National Memorial
• Elizabeth McCombs
• Unsung heroines: Biographies of Christchurch women
• A to Z of Christchurch people
• Photos of Christchurch women

References

[1] Woman’s Franchise, The Press, Volume L, Issue 8592, 20 September 1893, page 4

[2] Polling Day in Christchurch, The Press, Volume L, Issue 8652, 29 November 1893, page  5

[3] Polling Day in Christchurch, The Press, Volume L, Issue 8652, 29 November 1893, page  5

[4] Death of Mrs E. R. McCombs, The Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21493, 7 June 1935, page 13

[5] The Kate Sheppard National Memorial

This feature was first published in our quarterly magazine, uncover – huraina. It is our newest channel to help you explore and celebrate the resources, content, events, programmes and people of Christchurch City Libraries, Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi.

Celebrate Suffrage Day / White Camellia Day – Monday 19 September 2016

Monday 19 September 2016 is Suffrage Day / White Camellia Day – On 19 September 1893 women in New Zealand got the vote, and the white camellia was the symbol of the suffragists.

Here in Christchurch,  there’s a celebration honouring the achievements of women from 12 to 12.30pm by the Kate Sheppard Memorial on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace. Mayor Lianne Dalziel will speak, and the Kate Sheppard Memorial Award 2016 will be presented. The finalists in the Lois Middlemiss Award will read their poems, including Beth Walters, Aranui High – “East Side Youth: Our Voice”. (info from The Christchurch Mail)

Kate Sheppard memorial. Flickr 2014-09-19-IMG_2212

More about suffrage

• See the names of those who signed the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition.
• Digital NZ has a neat set of images Cartooning the women’s vote.
• Find information on women’s suffrage and women’s rights in New Zealand.

Fun Palaces – Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October 2016

Celebrate art, science and creativity at this year’s Fun Palaces festival! All activities are fun, free and suitable for all ages. Central Library Peterborough will be a Fun Palace from 10am to 2pm on the weekend of Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October (it’s the middle weekend of the school holidays).

Here’s the schedule for Fun Palaces 2016:

Saturday 1 October

Fabriko Electronic Sticker Fun Palace

Make a card, paper critter or a fan that will light up with a special electronic circuit you make with stickers, batteries and LEDs! Both days, 10am – 2pm

Spider Phobia Demonstration

Who’s afraid of spiders? Don’t miss out on this experience to have Virtual Spiders creep and crawl all over a desk and up your arms! Both days, 10am – 2pm

Nao Robots

A HUGE success last year! Swing by and interact with these incredible humanoid robots! Both days, 10am – 12pm

Interactive Trampoline Gaming

Come alone and have a try of the world’s first interactive, digital gaming system designed for a trampoline. Saturday 10am – 2pm

Quiver Augmented Reality

Experience the exciting world of Augmented Reality! Colour in images the ‘old school’ way and then watch them come to life using Quiver! This is a magical and engaging 3D experience. Saturday 10am – 12pm

MineCraft

Get imaginative and create your own Fun Palace through MineCraft. Work on your own or with friends to create the MOST fun environment you can think of! Only 20 computers available. Saturday 10 – 11.15am and 11.30am – 12.45pm

HTC VIVE

Experience a 360-degree virtual world! This is the very latest in augmented reality technology. Both days, 12 – 2pm

Sunday 2 October

Fabriko Electronic Sticker Fun Palace

Make a card, paper critter or a fan that will light up with a special electronic circuit you make with stickers, batteries and LEDs! Both days, 10am – 2pm

Spider Phobia Demonstration

Who’s afraid of spiders? Don’t miss out on this experience to have Virtual Spiders creep and crawl all over a desk and up your arms! Both days, 10am – 2pm

Nao Robots

A HUGE success last year! Swing by and interact with these incredible humanoid robots! Both days, 10am – 12pm

HTC VIVE

Experience a 360-degree virtual world! This is the very latest in augmented reality technology. Both days, 12 – 2pm

Bee-Bots!

Come and learn about Robot technology by having a play with these cute little guys! Sunday 10.30 – 11.30am and 1 – 2pm

3D Printing Demonstration

What’s all the hype about 3D printing? Come in and see yourself during a live demonstration. Learn a little about how these cool machines work, what we use and other facts about this exciting technology. Sunday 11am – 1pm

Kitchen Science Lab – Solar Oven

Build your very own solar oven and harness the power of the sun to cook yourself a wee treat. Sunday 12 – 2pm

Start Making! An interview about zines with Alice Bush of Christchurch Zinefest

Christchurch Zinefest 2016 is happening on Sunday 18 September, 11am to 5pm at Space Academy / Kadett (371 St Asaph Street). I spoke to one of the Zinefest organisers, Alice Bush –  a graphic design student at University of Canterbury. She’s been making zines for four years. As well as going to Christchurch Zinefests, Alice went to Wellington Zinefest last year.

Zinefest 2014 at Darkroom, St Asaph Street Flickr 2014-10-18-IMG_2732

Tips for Zinemakers

Don’t feel intimidated by what is out there already!

Start making,  not worry too much about what you’re making. Know that it will be accepted in a community. I think that all zines are valid – no matter how hi-fi or lo-fi they are.

Fave topics?

At the moment, I’m really into Riot grrrl feminist type stuff.  What she said by UC Femsoc is a great feminist zine. Filmme Fatales from Melbourne is another great read.

I always love a good funny zine as well, batshit weird … I saw a zine in New York dissecting Home Depot as an art store. There was one at Wellington Zinefest called “Sock review”, which was pretty awesome.

I like zines because they can be anything that you want them to be, no matter how weird your idea is.

Zine culture in Christchurch

There is Zinefest once a year, but that’s about the only event we have at the moment. The zine culture has been laying low, and the Zine Library that was in the Darkroom disappeared last year. I’m trying to build up the culture a bit more, getting people involved and doing more stuff.

Zinefest 2014 at Darkroom, St Asaph Street. Flickr 2014-10-18-IMG_2731

Space Academy has started having zine nights. The culture is there, but it is not as big as in Auckland and Wellington. It’s hard to do creative stuff in Christchurch when everything goes into rebuilding.

Zines and the Internet

People used to make fanzines and send them to their friends, now fan-culture has moved on to the internet and there’s not really any need for zines in that culture anymore. It’s interesting to see zines or digizines on sites like Issuu. It is for magazines, but I’ve seen tons of zines up there.

I’ve been reading this article by Bryce Galloway. He’s been involved in zines for a long time.  In the early 2000s it started being closed off, and away from the outside world and the Australian and American zines. It’s good when people put their stuff up on the web, because then everyone can see it. You’re getting your work out there to everyone.

Zines and libraries

I visited the Wellington zine collection when I was there. Zines have always been away from the mainstream way of publishing, and it is interesting that they are now in that context of the library.

Zines have been made since the 1920s. They started with sci fi, fanzines, and poetry. I’ve been trying to track down things from that era, most of it is in America. So it’d be great if the zines we make now will last to influence and encourage aspiring zinemakers in the future. I’m all for archiving things and making sure that things last.

I want zines to last as a form.

More about zines

• Explore our page on zines
• Find out about Christchurch Zinefest 2016
• Zinefest Christchurch Facebook
• Subscribe to the Christchurch Zinefest Facebook event

Zinefest at Darkroom, St Asaph Street. Saturday 18 October 2014. Flickr 2014-10-18-IMG_2726

Adult Learners go mad on 3D

My colleague Katie and I learnt something new this Adult Learners Week – how to make stuff and 3D print it! We visited the learning centre at Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre. Thanks to excellent training from Danny McNeil, Learning Specialist (and 3D wiz), we went through the whole process of creating an object and printing it. We learned how to design stuff using 123D (software now on library computers) and Inkscape.

Words like extrude and chamfer are now in my vocabulary. I saw how a background in gaming – particularly Minecraft – can help kids (and adults) design. It gets you familiar with working in a three dimensional space –  orbiting, rotating, and viewing objects from all angles can be tricksy and new when you are not used to it.

Designing a cat toy in 123D – involves some maths!

Danny took us through the process from woah to go – you can watch his how-to videos 3D modelling a step by step guide and have a try. People who’ve done his class have gone on to make all sorts of interesting things – new bits for their tools, flying vehicles, and more.

Ready, set, 3D print!

I highly recommend getting out of your comfort zone and learning something new – this week or any time!

3D printed cat toy

More photos from our training.

More

• Maker spaces and 3D printing
• Want to go to a class too? Try the Beginners 3D printing and design class at South Library in November, or  check out Classes and learning for more.

How to start a magazine – The Sunday Fringe at WORD Christchurch

The Sunday Fringe at the WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival was at one of my favourite new Christchurch places – Space Academy / Kadett Cafe in St Asaph Street. It’s just such a pleasant space to be in – great hot drinks, yummy food, AND an exhibition of The Smiths posters.

I was keen to go to this session, being a magazine lover from way back – raised on Twinkle, Tammy, and Misty comics, then Mizz, Q, Select, NME, British Vogue … Also, the library has just launched a magazine uncover – huraina.

The panellists on How to start a mag are eminently qualified to talk MAGAZINES: Debbie Stoller’s mag-baby is BUST (up to issue 100), Luke Wood (Cheap Thrills), and Duncan Greive from online mag The Spinoff (via Real Groove). The session was ably chaired by RDU’s breakfast host James Dann.

How to start a magazine. Flickr 2016-08-28-IMG_5856

In the world of magazines, the tension between quality content and business/advertising/the Web is massive:

• Don’t sell your soul to the advertisers. Magazines can become deformed by demands of the advertiser and fat with ad pages.
• The culture and the capital are never going to be compatible.
• How on earth do magazines make money?
• How do you sell magazines when there are fewer bookshops and less people buying mags?
• Why would people buy content they can get free on the web?
• NZ Herald and Stuff are both trying to be gossip sites, magazines, and provide serious news. The broken economic model dictates incoherence.
• A world without intelligent discourse gets you Trump and Brexit.

Duncan Greive. Flickr 2016-08-28-IMG_5852

Who wants to advertise to smart, funny feminists? Turns out – no-one.

Debbie Stoller. Flickr 2016-08-28-IMG_5850

So why make a magazine when it’s all against you? The big driver is PASSION. As Luke Wood said:

As a designer I guess I do fetishize the object. Somehow when it is in print, it is more archived. I believe in the content that we’re publishing.

And the experience of reading a magazine is different to consuming “weird snackable crap” on the internet. Debbie Stoller said:

It’s the quality of the time that you spend with it. It’s a more quiet focused time – it sticks in your memory more.

Luke Wood. Flickr 2016-08-28-IMG_5853

I can’t finish with mentioning this rather splendid quote from James:

Magazines smell really good; the Internet doesn’t.

Agreed.

WORD Christchurch

Photos from How to start a magazine

• WORD Christchurch website
• Our WORD Christchurch 2016 overview
• Our posts about WORD Christchurch 2016

The Stars are on Fire – WORD Christchurch

It was the first time I’ve been in the reopened Isaac Theatre Royal. My partner said the last thing he saw there was Public Enemy. I don’t know what I had been to – but we were back, and very happy to be at this WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival gala event.

WORD Christchurch The stars are on fire gala – Isaac Theatre Royal

WORD Literary Director Rachael King kicked off proceedings with a sense of the festival’s themes and the good news that ticket sales have already busted all records.

Then it was time for broadcaster Kim Hill to introduce the “marvellous array” of performers. She regretted not being previously advertised host John Campbell, but hey Kim we love you (and your broadcasting live from Christchurch today with WORD guest makes us love you all the more).

First up we had Sir Tipene O’Regan with the oldest of the Polynesian creation stories.

All stories of creation start in the dark.

We learned about the places and landmarks of Te Waipounamu (the South Island) in an informative – and really entertaining – journey. There was an element of pride in our place as coming from the first marriage of the first son. Yes, we are “sanctimoniously senior”.

Sir Tipene O’Regan at WORD Christchurch The stars are on fire gala

Caitlin Doughty has done more than 1000 cremations. She got us to put our hands up if we are getting cremated. Around 70% choose that option. In the United States, it’s more like 50%, while Japan has a percentage around 99.99%.

Caitlin took us on a “What to expect when you’re expecting to be cremated”. Not the gold standard simulation that you can experience in China, where you actually go on the crematory ride and feel the imaginary flames but … Audience member Cathy got to be “Cathy the Corpse” and we went along with her ride in her “alternative container”. There is a cone of flame, the temperature goes up to 815 degrees Celsius and that’s applied for around 45 minutes.

The rest of Caitlin’s speech included “flaming skull”, “glowing red bones” and “cremulator”.

Stephen Daisley won big at the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. His speech had the  flummoxed feeling you’d expect when someone has been writing for a long time and finds the reviews (which he read out)  a bit staggering.

Stephen Daisley at WORD Christchurch The stars are on fire gala

Tusiata Avia performed two poems from her new collection Fale Aitu | Spirit House.
It was made use of the idea of Aranui – the great path:

I am an Aranui girl.

Her second poem built on the repetition of “my body” and was utterly hypnotic:

My body is not an apology.

It was an powerful and absorbing perfomance.

Tusiata Avia at WORD Christchurch The stars are on fire gala

Steve Hely told a good yarn from his book The Wonder Trail True Stories From Los Angeles to the End of the World. He talks about the landscape of a particularly barren place in Chile, and a 7 hour bus trip with mine workers, and the one woman on the bus puts on a movie – Austenland. Why, why, why? And he amusingly considers why the heck someone might play that particular movie to a bunch of blokes.

Ivan E. Coyote. Oh Ivan. I think everyone fell in love with you. I did, “full on smitten”. We were as taken with them, as they were with the fabulous lineup of  “butch femmes” from the Yukon. I confidentally predict a flurry of ticket purchases for the rest of Ivan’s festival appearances.

Ivan Coyote at WORD Christchurch The stars are on fire gala

Hollie Fullbrook aka Tiny Ruins soothed the savage breast with a new song about a bus trip with someone just out of prison, a song about being under the same cover.

Hollie Fullbrook “Tiny Ruins” at WORD Christchurch The stars are on fire gala

Take a bow, stars.

See our photos from the Gala.

More sessions featuring the Gala Guests

Sir Tipene O’Regan appears in:
Kōrero Pūrakau : Ngāi Tahu Storytelling, Sat 27 Aug, 3.15pm
Read books by Sir Tipene in our collection.

Caitlin Doughty is appearing in:
Embracing Death, Sat 27 Aug, 9.30am
Ask a Mortician: Caitlin Doughty, Sun 28 Aug, 2pm
The Nerd Degree, Sun 28 Aug, 5pm
Read books by Caitlin in our collection.

Stephen Daisley is appearing in:
Writing War Stories, Sat 27 Aug, 3.15pm
Coming Rain, Sun 28 Aug, 11am
Read books by Stephen in our collection.

Tusiata Avia is appearing in:
Hear My Voice, Sat 27 Aug, 5.30pm
Spirit House/ Unity, Sun 28 Aug, 2pm
Read books by Tusiata in our collection.

Steve Hely is appearing in:
How to be a Writer: Steve Hely, Sat 27 Aug, 3.30pm
The Great NZ Crime Debate, Sat 27 Aug, 7.30pm
The State of America, Sun 28 Aug, 12.30pm
Read books by Steve in our collection.

Ivan E. Coyote is appearing in:
Taku Kupu Ki Te Ao: My Word to the World, Sat 27 Aug, 1-4pm
Hear My Voice, Sat 27 Aug, 5.30pm
The Storyteller: Ivan E. Coyote, Sun 28 Aug, 11am
Read books by Ivan in our collection.

Hollie Fullbrook is appearing in:
Workshop: Songwriting with Hollie Fullbrook, Sat 27 Aug, 9.30am
Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?, Sat 27 Aug, 12.30pm
In Love With These Times, Sat 27 Aug, 7.30pm
Find music by Hollie in our collection.

WORD Christchurch

• WORD Christchurch website
• Our WORD Christchurch 2016 overview
• Our posts about WORD Christchurch 2016