Brockie: A Memoir in Words, Cartoons and Sketches

Over 200 Wellingtonians – and some from further afield – attended the launch of Brockie: A Memoir in Words, Cartoons and Sketches at the National Library on Thursday 26 February.

The launch was attended by members of Brockie’s family, and a number of old friends including writers, journalists, cartoonists, scientists, former politicians and diplomats.

The book was launched by award-winning novelist Lloyd Jones, brother of Brockie’s second wife Pat, who spent a number of his formative years living in the Brockie household. Other speakers included Ian F. Grant, NZ Cartoon Archive founder and publisher of the book, and Melinda Johnston, research librarian, cartoons at the Alexander Turnbull Library, who was the event’s m/c.

The book celebrates, in a typically different Brockie style, his career as National Business Review’s editorial cartoonist and as a prominent scientist and writer of popular science columns and books.

The book was published by the NZ Cartoon Archive and Fraser Books. RRP $39.50

In his remarks, publisher Ian Grant mentioned his long association with Brockie, better known to the scientific community as Dr. Robert Brockie:

“Personally, publishing Bob Brockie’s book has been a satisfying culmination of an association and friendship that stretches back about 45 years. When we asked Bob to first contribute editorial cartoons to NBR in 1975, neither of us could have imagined that they would still appear weekly all these years later.

“The links have continued over the years.

                “We produced a Christmas stocking sort of book, back then when they were popular, of Bob’s cartoons and my satirical columns, I edited his internationally significant book about the ecology of the Orongoronga Valley near Wellington and, after the NZ Cartoon Archive was established at the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1992, Bob has served on the two associated committees.

“I had to cajole Bob a little to write more about his very eclectic life, as  he much preferred letting the cartoons, caricatures and wonderfully evocative and insightful sketches speak for themselves.  The end result is certainly not a conventional memoir, but, I think, a very satisfactory one. It’s a different sort of memoir – but with Bob what else could it have been?”

The book is available from bookshops throughout the country or can be ordered directly from Fraser Books (ifgrant@xtra.co.nz).

 Bob Brockie with publisher Ian Grant