Book, Boko? Kobo - yes!

The future has arrived already.

My Kobo is loaded and ready. It is easy to read, easy to hold, easy to navigate and easy to carry around. I have 100 selected classics from the Gutenberg project, several New Zealand classics from the NZ Electronic text centre and one ebook that I have purchased; there is no public library system yet for the loan of ebooks.

The Kobo e-reader was launched in New Zealand on Thursday and sold out on Friday. I will have mine with me at the Library for anyone to test but if you want to know more details read Martin Taylor's review.

e-books, i-pads, q-books......

......what will we be reading in the future?

This question was posed at the last session of the AWRF that I attended. Called Read any good bytes lately?, it was a panel discussion about electronic reading and the new toys for reading. In fact the plan had been to have a room of devices for reading for festival goers to explore and test but unfortunately that was not possible. I was really looking forward to that as I want to know how different an experience it will be reading from a machine instead of from a printed book. After all the story, the words, the meaning will be the same won't they?

Paul Reynolds, internet guru, Web 2.0 enthusiast and Library advocate, lead a discussion about how we are moving away from the traditional model of the book towards digital interactive material. Rhonda Kite demonstrated on an i-pad two children's books that were designed to aid reading development and comprehension. The discussion was wide ranging but inconclusive. I felt concerned that in this runaway digital environment we might lose some quality. Our book industry, developed over time, has created various means of quality control; for example we have well-read book reviewers, literary criticism and international awards. We will need digital equivalents of these that offer more than star ratings!

Paul maintained that the functions of libraries and librarians will be increasingly important  - that is why everyone was so sad this week to hear of his sudden death. His funeral was held today and tributes from all around the country have appeared on blogs and websites:
http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz/2010/05/on-the-death-of-dr-paul-reynolds/
http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/paul-reynolds-r.html
http://www.aucklandcitylibraries.com/blog/scooperonlibraries.aspx
http://publicaddress.net/6638#post6638

New Zealand writers are international too

Among the big names from overseas, John Carey, William Dalrymple, Lionel Shriver and Colm Toibin, attending the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival our own New Zealand authors were equally articulate, interesting and challenging. And many of them are known internationally too; C.K. Stead has recently won the inaugural Sunday Times (UK) short story competition, Rachel King's first novel The Sound of butterflies was published in nine countries, Paula Morris teaches creative writing in New Orleans and was a finalist for the Commonwealth writers prize.

King and Morris discussed their books, their research, their approach to writing and their reading preferences with a great chairperson, Dorothy Vinicombe, and an attentive audience. They are both New Zealand writers but with worldwide perspective.

Personally I prefer the writing of Rachel King (pictured) which I find
detailed and atmospheric. Her novels are certainly unusual; they are historical dealing with ancestry, inheritance, collecting, tattooes, taxidermy but, especially in Magpie Hall, she brings those preoccupations right up to date. Read it and enjoy!

Her own blog, called the sound of butterflies, is well worth reading too.

Crowds of readers

Saturday sell-out successes at the Writers and Readers Festival were:

• Colm Toibin, best known for The Blackwater lightship, who was recently named in the Costa Book Awards for Brooklyn, a story about an Irish woman emigrating to Brooklyn in the 1950s
• Lionel Shriver, best known for We need to talk about Kevin, explaining her newest novel So much for that, an indictment of the state of health services in America and an exploration of how individuals come to terms with serious illness and dying
• Charlie Higson, the writer of the Young James Bond novels, proving with his new horror series beginning with The Enemy that books can appeal to teenage boys
• C.K.Stead who filled the upper room to capacity with the very first outing of South-West of Eden: a memoir 1932 -1956

Quotes from Lionel Shriver

• Libraries are expressions of social generosity
• Book groups are a healthy cultural phenomenon

Thanks to Roberta Smith from Christchurch Libraries for her interesting interview with Lionel Shriver

Ideas need words

This is the publicity slogan for the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival and it is emblazoned in capital letters 3 inches high on the volunteers' t-shirts. As I was heading for the bus stop tonight after a day of ideas and words someone pointed at me and said "that's not true you know". Well, I hadn't actually thought about it until that moment but I do think that people need books and books contain ideas and words describe those ideas and so I am quite happy with the phrase. It's not exclusive; ideas need images too and art is included in the Festival. Perhaps I will stop to chat with the next person who contradicts my t-shirt.

Today I heard Elizabeth Smither reading some of her poetry and talking about Lola, a novel that I have already read but I enjoyed hearing about its genesis and background.

An excellent session followed, chaired by Kim Hill with Anne Salmond and Thomas Keneally discussing their various historical books. Much of the discussion concerned the "cultural faultline" - that space between the new settlers and the native populations in Australia and New Zealand. Thomas Keneally hopes that his writing affirms the humanity of our ancestors on either side of the race divide whilst Anne Salmond sees herself dancing on the line cherishing things from both sides. She is always curious to find out what happened in the past to create a richer story and expects a blur between fiction and non-fiction if imagination is brought into the explanation of an event. Thomas Keneally then stated that "fiction is trying to tell the truth by telling lies whilst history is trying to tell the truth by trying to tell the truth". Thomas Keneally was amusing, Anne Salmond was expansive and Kim Hill was well-prepared, perceptive and probing with her questions. Her radio interview with Thomas Keneally will be worth listening to - find it here if you missed the broadcast.

Festival off to a flying start

The 2 day schools programme at the AWRF was a great success - packed audiences for both local and international writers with lots of questions and chatter and vows to read all the books. Anna McKenzie and David Levithan were the big hits. Anna Mackenzie's The sea-wreck stranger is a well thought out story set in a possible New Zealand landscape.

The Opening night event in the ASB theatre was also packed, the audience listening eagerly to the readings of five very different writers. Commentating on the Festival is a team from Christchurch Libraries who are producing several blog posts a day with audio interviews as well. Check out the Christchurch blog here. Richard Liddicott described last night session in these terms:

Thomas Keneally had some masterful turns of phrase; Emily Perkins read an unpublished piece full of sensory detail; Colm Toibin read as if he was delicately tip-toeing a merry dance, even breaking into song; Lionel Shriver displayed her ‘beguiling barbarity’ – dropping some swear-bombs that had the audience squeezing their knees together, but also some stunning phrases such as ‘kisses that were like sucking a coin’; William Dalrymple capped it all off with his fascinating descriptions of ‘religious lunatics’. Minstrels who make Glastonbury look like a Rotary dinner, an orthodox priest on the West Bank, and a cricket-loving Indian customs official who loved ‘Bottom’ – Ian Botham.

I agree that it is a treat hearing from the authors direct. Richard's final comment was that in print they impress you – in person they astound.

I'm back at the festival today to be astounded!

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival

starts this week!
I love attending book festivals to listen to authors and meet other readers. There is always a buzz at such events with people talking non-stop about books.

The Auckland Readers and Writers Festival is held annually in May and begins this year on Wednesday 12 May with public events held at the Aotea Centre from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 May. See the printed programme available in Libraries and bookshops or visit http://www.writersfestival.co.nz .

Actually just to feel the atmosphere you can pop into the Aotea Centre over the weekend and visit the bookstall – you are bound to see some of New Zealand’s top literary figures and there will be international authors signing copies of their books as well. Inspiring!

Books not bombs

Following on from the huge success of Three cups of tea, ex-mountaineer Greg Mortenson has written Stones into schools; promoting peace with books, not bombs in Afghanisatan and Pakistan in which he charts the progress of his charitable organisation to establish schools, especially schools for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. His philosophy is that "if you educate a girl, you educate a community". The work of his 'dirty dozen' to reach such inaccessible areas and the speed with which schools have been constructed is amazing in areas that are war-torn and earthquake damaged.

The importance of education to national reconstruction and development is Mortenson's driving factor but both books are written with compassion and humility about the people involved, about cultural relationships that are built on respect and trust, about girls' individual successes and both offer hope for the future.