Christchurch Earthquake Information

Earthquake Information



A magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred 10km south-east of Christchurch (two hours drive North of Timaru City) at 12:51, February 22, 2011 at a depth of 5km. Timaru District has not been seriously affected by the earthquake.However, support is being offered to the people of Christchurch.

For more support and general information click here...

PANZ Book Design Awards 2010 Winners

PANZ Book Design Awards 2010 Winners

New Zealand’s best book designers were celebrated at this year’s PANZ Book Design Awards which saw an outstanding group of winners emerge from a strong field.

This year’s Supreme Winner was The Life and Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell, designed by Cameron Gibb. It is a book in which, said awards judge Peter Gilderdale, “the design choices and content came together to yield a breathtaking result.”

See the full list of 2010 PANZ Book Design Awards winners.

Supreme Winner 2010: The Life and Love of Trees

Gerard Reid Award for Best Book: PANZ Book Design Awards 2010

Sponsored by Nielsen Book Services
 Designer Cameron Gibb

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Lewis Blackwell’s The Life & Love of Trees is a combination of breathtakingly beautiful photographs and wonderfully written, elegant and accessible essays. It reaches the highest standards of international design and publishing, and will sit proudly on bookshelves all around the world.

Best Cover 2010: Magpie Hall
Designer Sarah Laing
HarperCollins Award for Best Cover: PANZ Book Design Awards 2010

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

Like it or not, people often do judge a book by its cover, hence cover design is always a major element in the publishing process and can have a significant impact on its success or failure. Several of the best covers this year were to be found on fiction titles, with the winner and one highly commended title being from this genre.

Awa Press Young Designer of the Year: Keely O'Shannessy

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Congratulations are due to all of the young designers who entered. They have found themselves a place in a small and particular market. That takes courage and passion. If these guys are the future book designers of New Zealand, the industry is in exciting hands.

Pindar Award for Best Typography: Art at Te Papa
Designers: Grant Sutherland, Mission Hall (interior), Robyn Sivewright, fineline (typesetting), Neil Pardington (cover)

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Th typography and non-illustrated book categories tend to overlap. However, since our choices in non-illustrated acknowledged several highly typographic books, we decided to look beyond these ‘pure’ books,and recognise the strongest type across all categories.

Best Illustrated Book: The Life and Love of Trees
 Designer Cameron Gibb

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Considering the high number of entrants in this category, it is a given that all finalists have a well-resolved grid, great typography and a well-handled cover. Over and above these, however, all three books have major strengths.

Best Non-Illustrated Book: Mirabile Dictu
Designers Keely O'Shannessy (cover), Katrina Duncan (interior)
Hachette New Zealand Award for Best Non-Illustrated Book: PANZ Book Design Awards 2010

JUDGES ’ COMMENTS
The non-illustrated book category this year had fewer strong non-fiction books, but this was counteracted by the quality in poetry and fiction. It was noticeable that production values sometimes let down otherwise well-designed books – an effect, perhaps, of the recession. The best of the category transcended the gloom, however, and the finalists are all highly effective in different ways.

Best Educational Book: Year 9 Graphics
Designer Book Design Limited
Pearson Award for Best Educational Book: PANZ Book Design Awards 2010

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
The educational book category attracted more entries than in 2009, and the quality of entries was fairly even. Educational books often have to get a lot of information into a constrained space, and this can lead to clutter when not handled well. The finalists all managed to combine well-sequenced information, solid typography and visual appeal.

Best Childrens Book: Old Hu-Hu
 Designer Michael Greenfield
Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book: PANZ Book Design Awards 2010

JUDGES’ COMMENTS
New Zealand has a wealth of talented authors and illustrators in the world of children’s books, and every year the category attracts a raft of fine books that make judging difficult. The judges were again impressed by the overall standard this year.

New Zealand Post Book Award Winners 2010

Judith Binney Wins 2010 New Zealand Post Book of the Year

Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Christopher Finlayson tonight honoured historian Judith Binney with the country’s highest literary accolade, the New Zealand Post Book of the Year, for her work Encircled Lands, a book about Tūhoe’s quest for self-government of their lands, granted to them in law more than a century ago.



Tūhoe, represented by kaumatua Wharehuia Milroy and Pou Temara, responded in numbers to the presentation at the gala awards ceremony held in Auckland’s tonight. Last year, Tūhoe bestowed Binney with the name Tomoirangi o Te Aroha (a little cloud of rain from heaven) in recognition of her work.

New Zealand Post Book Awards judge, Paul Diamond, described the winning work as one that will profoundly change our understanding of our shared history.

‘Encircled Lands is an exhaustive, comprehensive history of Te Rohe Pōtae o Te Urewera, the only autonomous tribal district that was recognised in law. Not only does it fulfill the author’s hopes of revealing an almost unknown history to a new audience, it also deftly illustrates why the history of the Urewera and its people continues to resonate.’

Debut novelist, Alison Wong won the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Fiction for her book, As The Earth Turns Silver, ahead of established writers, Fiona Farrell and Owen Marshall.

‘Based on meticulous research, this novel opens new windows on the development of our nation; it also opens our hearts to the anguish caused by racism, ignorance, failures in family relationship and communication, and war. The book is a delight to look at and hold, as well as deeply moving to read,’ says Pountney.

Brian Turner, a leading biographer, essayist, poet and conservationist, was presented with the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Poetry for his collection, Just This, described by judge Elizabeth Smither as a life’s work in its reach, its depth and its deceptive plainness of surface.

‘Just This dares to ask the profoundest questions about place and human existence, how we live now and how we hand the world on. It is dangerous poetry because it addresses ethics but at the same time it is leavened with a sweet and sly self-awareness as it searches for “something you can have faith in, swear by”. The journey from the first poem to the last is a revelation,’ says Smither.

In a tightly fought contest that had judges reaching for superlatives, co-owner of Wellington’s famed Logan Brown restaurant, celebrity chef and passionate fisherman, Al Brown won the Illustrated Non-fiction category for his book Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast.

'Colourful images pour from the pages and spicing up the illustrative side are busy montages demonstrating how to prepare crayfish, crab and paua, and how to fillet a flounder – no mean feat, any of this. The recipes themselves, easy to follow, employ an engaging mix of type sizes and layout techniques. For a cookbook, it’s a remarkable page-turner,’ says Peat.

Go Fish also won this year’s coveted People’s Choice Award as voted by thousands of readers nationwide.

The full list of 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards winners is as follows:

New Zealand Post Book of the Year and General Non-fiction Award winner:

Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 by Judith Binney (Bridget Williams Books)

Fiction Award winner: As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong (Penguin Group (NZ)

Poetry Award winner: Just This by Brian Turner (Victoria University Press)

Illustrated Non-fiction Award and People’s Choice Award winner: Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast by Al Brown (Random House NZ)

Author Talk - A Life on the River Gorge

Robert Long - A Life on Gorge River

Robert's visit to the Library on Monday 6th September was a great success, all those who attended were entertained with Robert's great storytelling about his and his family's adventures. Below is an overview of Robert's story and some photos of the event.

Robert Long and his family - wife Catherine, and children Christan (19) and Robyn (17) - live in complete isolation (Christan is currently studying at Otago Polytechnic and Robin is in Year 13 at Mount Aspiring College in Wanaka), in a hut two days' walk south of Haast in South Westland. Robert has lived there for nearly 30 years; Catherine for 20 and the kids all their lives. Their only contact with the outside world is a helicopter or plane once a month, and two trips a year to the 'outside world'. This is the story of how and why Robert - known locally as 'Beansprout' - came to live at Gorge River, and the family's experiences there over the years, living self-sufficiently and forging close bonds with the natural environment. It is an inspiring tale of one man's decision to 'drop out' of capitalist society and successfully establish a lifestyle most New Zealanders can't even imagine, harking back to the days of the earliest pioneers.

This is the inspiring and truly impressive story of how and why Robert — known locally as ‘Beansprout’ — chose to live ‘outside’ society and came to live at Gorge River.

I found his story riveting, couldn't put it down.

It is the inspiring tale of one man’s decision to ‘drop out’ of capitalist society and successfully establish a lifestyle most New Zealanders can’t even imagine, harking back to the days of the earliest pioneers, living self-sufficiently and forging close bonds with the natural environment.

Inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award Finalists Announced

The three finalists for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, which will be presented at a ceremony at the upcoming The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival in September, have now been confirmed. The award is made for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident, published in New Zealand during 2009.

A panel of seven local and international judges has been considering the best of locally written crime and thriller fiction published last year.

The three finalists are:

The winner of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel will be announced at a ceremony at the conclusion of the “Setting the Stage for Murder” event at the Festival on the evening of Friday 10 September 2010.

The international judges said CUT & RUN was “complex and suspenseful” and had “scenes and incidents which are jaw-droppingly good”, that BURIAL “maintained the tension and the atmosphere from beginning to end, keeping the atmosphere creepy”, and that CONTAINMENT had “an attractive series heroine (feisty but vulnerable)” while starting with a “superb” opening scene that by itself would make the judge “want to read more Vanda Symon”.

“There were a number of high-quality crime novels published last year, and it has been a tough decision for the judges,” said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “It is fantastic to see crime writing of this quality being produced by New Zealand writers, and great that the Award recognises both the best of our current authors, while also honouring the memory of one of our country’s true literary legends, who we have perhaps underappreciated in the past.”

The Awards namesake, Dame Ngaio Marsh, is renowned worldwide as one of the four “Queens of Crime” of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, having published 32 novels featuring Inspector Roderick Alleyn between 1934 and her death in 1982. With sales in the millions, and her books still in print to this day, Dame Ngaio is possibly New Zealand’s bestselling author, ever.

Library Week

Library Week

16th – 22nd August

Check out what’s happening @ your Library

Come in during the week and win a great prize just for visiting us!!

Plus Guess the number of jellybeans in the jar and you could win the lot!!

Mystery Book Week

Try something new!!

Borrow a lucky dip book parcel – you might be surprised what you get to read!!

Library Book Art

Enter our Book Art Design Competition…

Design & create an art work from an old discarded Library Book

Entries close 3rd September

Join the Library

Not a Library Member???

Join the Library and receive a Free Book 

NB This applies to New Adult Borrowers only

Competitions

Try our Website Scavenger Hunt – how well do you know your way around our website, test your skills!!!

Worst Opening Line – let your creative juices run wild and write the “best” worst opening line of a novel

Mini Book Sale Timaru Only

Friday 20th – Sunday 22nd

Pick up a bargain or 2 at our Mini Book sale

Starts 10am Friday

For more information and online competitions visit

www.libraryweek.org.nz

Playaways

Playaways

Playaway Speaks for Itself

Playaway is the simplest way to listen to audio on the go. Each Playaway comes with the digital content already pre-loaded on it and a battery to make it play. Simply plug in earbuds and enjoy.

No Cassettes. No CDs. No Downloads. Just Play.

“For people who just want to press play and go.” TIME Magazine

Playaway Pre-Loaded Audio Format

Simple Technology

Pre-Loaded Content

Digital Functionality

Ultimate Portability

The Next Generation of Audiobooks

Each Playaway holds an entire audiobook, regardless of length

Easily navigate back and forth through chapters

Automatic bookmarking remembers where you stopped listening

Universal headphone jack