In Memoriam

Erebus Voices
The Mountain

I am here beside my brother, Terror.
I am the place of human error.
I am beauty and cloud, and I am sorrow;
I am tears which you will weep tomorrow.
I am the sky and the exhausting gale.
I am the place of ice. I am the debris trail.
I am as far as you can see.
I am the place of memory.
And I am still a hand, a fingertip, a ring.
I am what there is no forgetting.
I am the one with truly broken heart.
I watched them fall, and freeze, and break apart.

Thirty years on, the disaster on Mount Erebus in the Antarctic still has as much power as it did on the day and night that the tragedy occurred, as do the words of this Bill Manhire poem. The event has the power to move and the power to polarise. It was a story that we may have been too close to at the time, to see all the parts clearly and this has only come with time and distance, apology and forgiveness.

Here are some links that will help on the background.

Mt Erebus in Rodney Libraries catalogue
New Zealand History website
Te Ara - Encyclopedia of New Zealand website
Christchurch City Libraries resource page
The TVNZ and the TV3 Erebus sites

Erebus Voices (continued)
The Dead

We fell.
Yet we were loved and we are lifted.
We froze.
Yet we were loved and we are warm.
We broke apart.
Yet we are here and we are whole.

Rest in Peace.

Joy Cowley's Writing Workshop

TO all the aspiring children's fiction and picture book writers out there - Check this out and mark it in your diary.

Award winning and notable Kiwi author Joy Cowley is running a writer's workshop in Auckland in February 2010. It will run over two days 27 and 28 February and there are a very limited number of places. It is described on the Storylines website as "intensive two-day course with this master storyteller, covering all aspects of writing for children and young adults (getting started, plot, character, voice, humour, writing disciplines, picture books, chapter books, YA novels, presenting a manuscript, getting support.)"

To find out more and to book your spot go to this Storylines link

Picture Book Illustrators

The Storylines Charitable Trust have announced the finalists for the Gavin Bishop Award for Children's Book illustrators. They are:

Sara Acton from Christchurch

Heather Arnold from Auckland

Harriet Bailey from Wellington

Stephanie Junovich from Christchurch

Gary Venn from Hamilton

Neroli Williams from Christchurch

"We were delighted by the quality of the entries and by the broad range of media and creative approaches that illustrators took – it was heartening to see so much excellent work and a huge pleasure to judge them." said the Judges who also acknowledge the amount of time and effort contestants took in putting their entries together.

The art work in a children's picture book is an integral part of the experience for both the child and their big person. To read more about the award and see some of the art work go to this Storylines link

The Far Beyond

Here's a sneak preview of The Far Beyond by Warwick Thompson which Wellsford Librarians have reviewed in their next Local Matters.

A novel of adventure, hardship and courage as the writer builds on the story of his great-grandfather. The facts the book is based upon actually happened but have been turned into an extremely readable fictionalized account by the author.

The story moves from its origins in Sutherland, Scotland to Northern Ireland covering the years of the potato famine then on to England where James Cameron Fraser trains as a marine engineer. James then travels to New Zealand; with authentic experiences based on a diary of the voyage of the Black Swan to arrive in Dunedin. Descriptions of the fledgling town and the beginnings of the gold strikes – hardships, starvation, freezing weather - all are vividly portrayed. Action moves to Auckland and the events surrounding the battles at Mercer and Rangiriri are also sympathetically covered then all is drawn together back in Dunedin.

Well worth reading.