Storylines Notable Book Awards – Fun in Auckland

Storylines Notable Book Awards

It’s been a while since I received my Storylines Notable Book Awards for Ezaara and Dragon Hero — for excellence in young adult fiction. I was absolutely thrilled to be among such distinguished company with my roaring dragons! Although I posted on Facebook and told my readers about it in my Riders of Fire newsletter, I haven’t had the opportunity to update my blog for ages.

The awards ceremony took place in Auckland. As well as awarding Notable Book Awards to young adult authors, there were awards for picture books, junior fiction (middle-grade novels or chapter books), books in Te Reo Maori, and non-fiction.

On the way to the Notable Book Awards

I manged to snap a selfie while waiting for my minibus to the awards. In case you’re wondering, I don’t constantly change the colour of my hair. I do it twice a year (it takes hours) and it just fades to all sorts of shades in between.

 

 

 

 

I’m no good at selfies, but hey, everyone’s nose needs to look a little bigger, right? I heard that photo recognition software has been updated to take into account that selfies produce enormous noses!!

Young Adult Fiction

One of the highlights of being at the Storylines Margaret Mahy and National Awards Day  was seeing many NZ authors I hadn’t caught up with for ages. Here’s a shot from the Storylines NZ website of the authors whose books won awards in the young adult category.

Mandy Hager

Mandy Hager (far right) won the Margaret Mahy Medal, and gave the keynote talk, which I loved. Mandy has so many New Zealand books awards that her pile must be  taller than me. It was great to catch up with her and hear her views about writing for teens.

“This, to me, is the definition of a great book, words that implant themselves in the heart of the recipient and become a part of them. Stories with power — be that the power to move, to challenge, to console, to excite, to anger, to motivate, to laugh, to cry, or to really truly think.”

— Mandy Hager

Life-giving Fingers

Another highlight of the day was seeing the heart surgeon who operated on one of my tiny premature twins, saving my baby’s life back in 2001. Alan Kerr was there for the launch of his son-in-law’s book. We just happened to sit next to each other. I tell you, New Zealand is such a small place. Wherever you go, you end up knowing people.

2019 Alan Kerr at the Storylines Notable Book Awards with Eileen Mueller

Alan saved my child’s life, years ago, then when he retired, he went on to save the lives of many in Palestine. Here’s a great article detailing the work he’s done in his life, saving thousands of kids like my one.

To top off the evening, I went out to dinner with an old friend from my university days. It had been 20 years since I’d caught up with Grant Hand and we had fabulous time, laughing way too loud and sharing our sad and good memories with each other. It’s amazing how you can pick up with an old friend right where you left off, even after years.

The Wellingtonian

My awards also featured in the last ever edition of The Wellingtonian. Thanks to journalist Jamie Adams for all his tireless work, covering community news for years, and for this final shout out, in his article Dragon Books Prove a Flaming Success.

My Readers are Orsum — Kiwi for Awesome!

Many of the authors on the Storylines Notable Books List have been published by large publishing houses — Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Walker Books, Allen & Unwin or Harper Collins — or by NZ medium-sized publishing houses such as Gecko Press, Upstart Press, Huia, Duck Creek Press or Potton & Burton, so I was thrilled that my books received awards and this level of national recognition.

Having said that, above any awards, I prize the emails I receive from my readers across the world who are touched by Riders of Fire and Ezaara’s adventures. Thank you for sharing your reading journey with me. Thanks for committing the time to enjoy my work. And thanks for letting me get to know you. It’s a privilege. You rock!

Storylines Family Day – Bugs N’ Bees Zone

Storylines Family Day Michael Fowler Centre Wellington

Sunday 24 August 10am-3pm

We have lots of bug-gy and bee-sy activities lined up at Storylines Family Day. Sally Sutton and Gary Venn have  a great book, with a bug theme, Ben and the Icky-Ooky-Sticky Smick. Brian Lovelock just illustrated Raymond Hueber’s book Flight of the Honeybee and won the LIANZA award for children’s illustration two weeks ago. So we are celebrating!

ben-and-the-icky-ooky-sticky-smick huber_flight-of-the-honey-bee

Phil Photo

Come to the Bugs N’ Bees zone and meet Phil Sirvid, Te Papa’s entomologist and a spider expert. Check out his bug collection. Don’t miss his talk, Spiders Are Cool at 2pm. Bee Photo

You can also meet Tricia Laing and Frank Lindsay, real live beekeepers from the Wellington Beekeeper’s Association. They’ll have beekeeping gear to try on and hives to show you.

Join in a bug hunt, find illustrator Gary Venn’s super-sized bugs around the venue and win the bug to keep and go into a prize draw for books! Hear Sally and Gary talk about their bug-gy book and where they get their great ideas from! Hear Brian and Frank talk about bees. Learn about the different types of bees and what they look like. See a real queen bee, a carpenter bee, drones, and more…

Get your face painted bug style. Come along and bee a bug, but whatever you do, don’t bug your parents too much! Just have fun! For Monster Fun Zone go here. For War Zone go here. For general info go here. For a program go here. See you tomorrow!

Storylines Family Day – War Zone

Storylines Family Day Michael Fowler Centre Wellington

Sunday 24 August 10am-3pm

Philippa Werry is a fantastic author, short-listed for the NZ Post children’s book awards, and a prolific writer for the School Journal. Most kids will know Pippa’s stories, even if they don’t yet recognize her name. In the last few years she has become a World War 1 specialist with several books about the war – both novels, and picture books.

best-mates Anzac-Day-300dpi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To celebrate Philippa’s great books we have a War Zone at Storylines Family Day. Real soldiers will be there to give you camouflage paint, show off their tents and equipment and let you try on soldier’s gear. They’ll even teach you how to march like a soldier!

One of our team has been baking up a storm. We have hardtack to break your teeth on (the softer modern kind) and 900 real old-fashioned Anzac biscuits – that taste more like ginger-nuts than today’s Anzac biscuits!

There are displays of WW1 soldier’s food, oodles of photos of world war one, soldier stories and even Bob Kerr’s fantastic illustrations from Best Mates. A particularly special treat is Philippa’s personal Galipolli gallery. She volunteered there on Anzac Day this year and has a fantastic presentation to share about her trip!

PippaAtGallipoli
Philppa Werry, Anzac Day 2014 in Galipolli. Pippa is in the back row, on the right at the end with long dark hair.

Come along, march like a soldier, get dressed up and learn about the war! For a full programme, go here. For the Monster Fun Zone go here. General info go here.