Twenty
passionate and entertaining authors, excited children, more than 70 events, and
a ton of fun and inspiration mark this year’s New Zealand Book Awards for
Children and Young Adults Finalist Authors’ Tour.
The
tour runs nationwide from Monday, 3 August to Friday, 7 August 2015. During the
Tour thousands of children and young adults from all over the country will meet
and mix with awards-finalist authors and illustrators in bookshops, libraries
and schools. Promoting the fun of books and reading, this year’s Tour will
inspire children to read and enjoy new books, as well as encouraging a new
generation of writers and illustrators.
“This year’s Tour
will buzz with the multitude of events organised throughout the country,” says
Stella Chrysostomou, board member of the New Zealand Book Awards Trust that
oversees the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. “Authors will talk about what inspired them to
write and how they write, and they’ll read excerpts from their books. As well,
there are fun illustration workshops and creative activities, creating
opportunities for children and high school students to interact with the
authors and illustrators. There’s something for everyone in this year’s Tour.”
A
selection of this year’s Finalist Authors’ Tour events are:
·
South
Auckland children are winners on Thursday, 6 August when they listen to Leonie
Agnew at the Manukau Library, Te Matariki Clendon Community Centre &
Library and The Centre: Franklin. Leonie will talk about her Junior Fiction
finalist book Conrad Cooper’s Last Stand.
·
Rotorua
students will join triple-award finalist author and illustrator Donovan Bixley
on Tuesday, 4 August where he
celebrates his three finalist books – Dragon
Knight Fire!, Monkey Boy and Little
Red Riding Hood . . . Not Quite. Donovan will be at Kawaha Point Primary
School, St Mary’s Catholic School and at St Michaels’ Catholic School.
·
On
Wednesday, 5 August Fifi Colston will help students at Petone’s Wilford School
and Waterloo School use recycling to create monstrously clever costumes using her
book Ghoulish Get Ups: How to Create Your
Own Freaky Costumes.
Also that day, Gillian Candler, author
of Under the Ocean: explore &
discover New Zealand’s sea life meets children at Plimmerton School,
Maraeroa School and at the Porirua Library.
Mandy Hager, author of young-adult finalist Singing Home the Whale talks to Upper Hutt College students in two
morning sessions.
In Wellington city, Julie Noanoa and
Norm Heke, creators of Māori Art for
Kids, meet students from Scots College, and Kahurangi and Seatoun Schools
in two sessions.
In the final Wellington event,
students at St Catherine’s College listen to Dr John Rowland tell the story of
his daughter Harriet, Wellington’s teen blogger whose battle with cancer
inspired her incredible true story – The
Book of Hat, a Non-fiction finalist.
·
Nelson
area’s young people will be entranced when they meet James Norcliffe (The Pirates and the Nightmaker) at
Motueka Library on Thursday, 6 August. He then hosts a writing workshop for Year
7 and 8 students at Richmond Library. James will also meet children and their
families at Nelson’s Page and Blackmore Booksellers. On the Friday, James
visits Nelson Intermediate School, and will meet local students at Nelson
Public Library.
·
West
Coast children have a plenty of chances to meet Ella West (Night Vision). On Tuesday, 4 August Ella will talk to Westport
North School students, St Canices School and then at Buller Library. On the Wednesday, Ella visits Buller High
School and Reefton Area School.
·
Southlanders
can meet Scott Tulloch (I Am Not A Worm)
at four Festival events. On Monday, 3 August Scott will be at Gore’s Calvin
Community Church and in the afternoon he’ll run an illustration workshop at
Invercargill Library. On Tuesday, 4 August Scott will be at Winton Library and
Te Anau Library.
To
read more about Tour events in your area, go to: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-childrens-book-awards/book-awards-children-and-young-adults-2015-author-tour
“The Tour is all
about connecting with our authors, asking questions and getting excited about
the adventure of reading, and the discovery of a new author or book. We also
hope that it will inspire many to start their own creative writing, building a
platform for our future writers and adding to New Zealand’s cultural wealth,”
says Stella Chrysostomou.
The
finalists in the 2015 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults
were announced on Tuesday, 9 June in the four categories of Picture Book,
Non-Fiction, Junior Fiction and Young Adult Fiction and also the Māori language
award. The winners of each category will be announced on Thursday, 13 August at
Wellington’s Government House, together with the overall winner of the Margaret
Mahy Book of the Year prize; and the winners of the Children’s Choice Awards,
voted for by school children throughout New Zealand
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