Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Does a triple book launch = a flotilla?!

That was one of the questions posed by MC Jackie Ballantyne at tonight's launch of three books by three Dunedin writers.

The Dunedin City Library played host to a lively celebration of three lovely Dunedin ladies and the very different books they have had published.


Paddy Richardson has just had A Year to Learn a Woman, a psychological thriller, published by Penguin. I loved this book and will post my TV review of it tomorrow. The hilarious thing about this book is that while Paddy was feverishly working away on it and I was battling away with The Ringmaster, we lived, literally, three doors away from each other, and didn't even know it! So what does it say about our quiet little street that the two crime fiction books from Dunedin writers this year came from it's quaint old villas?


Kath Beattie has added to the Scholastic My Story series of books with Poor Man's Gold: The diary of Reuben Radcliffe, Northland, 1899-1900. Kath's family history is intimately associated with the Kauri Gum diggers and Northland and she related some of the little details which came straight from her family stories. Mr Nine-Year Old is lined up to read it - he's loved others in the series.


Martha Morseth has gone the way of science fiction and ghosts with Edge: A cut of unreal, which is a collection of short stories for teenagers. This book tackles right up to the minute technology and also future technologies - time travel anyone?



So three very different books, three lovely ladies, loads of supportive friends and relatives, and one great evening. It's all happening in Dunedin!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when your brain is overloaded: this night was also an evening with publishers doing some talk about publishing. I'd got it all sorted: I would mark senior exams and then head off to lib at 7:30. Organised whanau and friends accordingly. Turns out I mixed up the times: the three fab authors met at 5:30 (while I was dissecting Level 3 (read: bursary type) essays and, when I'd rung Vanda at 6pm to enquire if she would be attending said avent, was ALREADY THERE!.

Dang and blast. I hate that my life is cluttered with, well, life.

I rang Martha to apologise. To the other gals - sorry, sorry, sorry. I wanted to be there. It sounds like it was a great evening and I'm irked that I wasn't part of it. I shall crawl away to the hole that is the life a full time teacher, a full time mother and a full time writer - to lick my smarts in embarrassment.

Anonymous said...

BTW, I am Tania Roxborogh. I can't (for the life of me) remember my user name and password - sorry.

The Paradoxical Cat said...

So sorry I missed it. I was intending to go, but at the last minute found myself on a roll with a piece of writing I'd been putting off, and that had an urgent deadline. Sigh.

Ironic huh?

But I'm looking forward to hearing your talk tonight Vanda!

Vanda Symon said...

Hah, Tania, I had a good laugh when I listened to your phone message, although if you're working at school till 7.00pm you're working too hard!