Auckland Libraries

In this episode, Alison drinks water and meditates on this precious, almost mystical commodity H20. Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog: https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/books-and-beyond-drink-more-water.html Auckland Libraries' radio show Books and Beyond explores the world of books with guest authors, recommended reads, gems from the Central City Library basement and… beyond. This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 9 February 2020.

Sue Berman caught up with Dena Jacob - Poukōkiri Rangahau Māori in Waitākere, to talk about the current exhibition Wai 262 The Flora and Fauna Claim. The exhibition runs till 29 February 2020 on level 2 of the Waitakere Central Library. The exhibition brings awareness to Te Tīriti o Waitangi by exploring images of native flora and fauna drawn from manuscripts that date back to 1845. Dena explains the Wa1 262 claim was a Waitangi Tribunal claim lodged in 1991. It was one of the largest and most complex in the Tribunal's history. It was a contemporary claim and focused mainly on the Crown's existing laws, policies and practices. A video and book resources support this exhibition. Wai 262 : the indigenous flora and fauna claim - DVD https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2652755 Ko Aotearoa tēnei. Te taumata tuarua : a report into claims concerning New Zealand law and policy affecting Māori culture and identity https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb262

In this episode Sue Berman talks with the Heritage Collections Principal Archives and Manuscripts Kirsty Webb about the Real Gold case for February 2020. It features the amazing weather journals and story of early missionary the Rev. Richard Davis. Richard Davis was a thirty-four year old Dorsetshire farmer, and in 1824 he arrived in New Zealand with his family and settled at the Church Missionary Society mission in Paihia. Nine years later, he was sent inland to Waimate North to establish a model farm for the CMS on land bought from Ngāpuhi, and to continue his work as a missionary and teacher. Farming depends on understanding the climate, and this in turn relies on accurate weather observation over time. In these two diaries, Davis recorded rainfall, temperature and pressure, and noted wind and weather patterns. In 2008, NIWA climate scientists Dr Drew Lorrey and Ms Petra Pearce identified these two volumes as the earliest continuous land-based records currently known in New Zealand. The precision, co

This edition of Books & Beyond pays tribute to the city of Auckland by choosing books of historical recollections, novelistic descriptions and poetic odes.

Review Review was a collaborative event between Auckland Libraries and Alternative Bindings Collective. On 10 February 2016 Review Review was recorded and we are pleased to bring you retrospective highlights from this event. The MC for the evening was Alternative Bindings member Michael Giacon. He introduces each of the reviewers who speak for 7 minutes reviewing a book of their choose. Reviewers in this series include Local writers and readers Jade du Preez, Christopher Dempsey, Richard Galloway, Morgan Borthwick and Carole Beu. In this last track we hear Carole Beu talk about Amy Bloom's novel Lucy us. https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2853456

Review Review was a collaborative event between Auckland Libraries and Alternative Bindings Collective. On 10 February 2016 Review Review was recorded and we are pleased to bring you retrospective highlights from this event. The MC for the evening was Alternative Bindings member Michael Giacon. He introduces each of the reviewers who speak for 7 minutes reviewing a book of their choose. Reviewers in this series include local writers and readers Jade du Preez, Christopher Dempsey, Richard Galloway, Morgan Borthwick and Carole Beu. In this track we hear from Christopher Dempsey. He talks about the book Hear Us Out: Conversations with Gay Novelists by Richard Canning. https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2833924

Review Review was a collaborative event between Auckland Libraries and Alternative Bindings Collective. On 10 February 2016 Review Review was recorded and we are pleased to bring you retrospective highlights from this event. The MC for the evening was Alternative Bindings member Michael Giacon. He introduces each of the reviewers who speak for 7 minutes reviewing a book of their choice. Reviewers in this series include local writers and readers Jade du Preez, Christopher Dempsey, Richard Galloway, Morgan Borthwick and Carole Beu. In this track we hear from Morgan Borthwick who talks about his chosen book Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World by Janet E Cameron. https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2731221

Review Review was a collaborative event between Auckland Libraries and Alternative Bindings Collective. On 10 February 2016 Review Review was recorded and we are pleased to bring you retrospective highlights from this event. The MC for the evening was Alternative Bindings member Michael Giacon. He introduces each of the reviewers who speak for 7 minutes reviewing a book of their choose. Reviewers in this series include Local writers and readers Jade du Preez, Christopher Dempsey, Richard Galloway, Morgan Borthwick and Carole Beu. This next track we hear Richard Galloway talk about lesbian author Eileen Mary Challans who took the pen name Renault. Her sympathetic treatment of love between men won her a wide gay readership. Her historical novels are all set in ancient Greece. https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2833941

Review Review was a collaborative event between Auckland Libraries and Alternative Bindings Collective. On 10 February 2016 Review Review was recorded and we are pleased to bring you retrospective highlights from this event. The MC for the evening was Alternative Bindings member Michael Giacon. He introduces each of the reviewers who speak for 7 minutes reviewing a book of their choose. Reviewers in this series include Local writers and readers Jade du Preez, Christopher Dempsey, Richard Galloway, Morgan Borthwick and Carole Beu. This first track features Jade du Preez talking about the book How to be Both by Ali Smith. https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2925467

To celebrate Pride 2020 the Heritage Collection team bring out some special collections that celebrate and reflect LGBTQI communities. In this track Sue Berman talks with Serials Librarian Bridget Simpson about the magazines that sit within Heritage Collections. Mentioned in the podcast are: Bitches, witches & dykes : a women's liberation newspaper v.1:no.1 (Aug. 1980) - v.2:no.1 (June 1982)issue 6 (Aug. 1982) 305.42 B62 O/S Pub.Feminist Publication Collective (Auckland, N.Z.) The circle: A lesbian-feminist publication Issue no.1 (Dec.1973)-issue no.44, December 1985.301.42 C59 S.H.E. -Pub.Sisters for Homophile Equality (NZ). Continued by Lesbian Feminist Circle (see attached extract from it) Devotion 1996 NZP305.90664 D49 Sir George Grey Special Collections copy 1996; Pub.Sprung (NZ). donation; Rex Pilgrim Express 06 July 1995 to current 305.906 E96 O/S Gay lib news Nov. 1972 - Aug. 1973 Gay Liberation Front 306.766 G28 Continued by Gay liberator The gay liberator Sept./Oct. 1973 - Apr./May 1975 3

When Sarah Mathew, wife of the surveyor Felton Mathew, arrived at the Waitemata Harbour in 1840, it was to assist her husband select a site for the capital of Aotearoa, New Zealand. The couple soon moved into a tent in the area we now call Britomart. In a box beside the tent was what Sarah refers to in her diary as, “my devoted piano”. Once their house was finished, the piano moved in with her and it became indispensable as an entertainment in the home. Playing the piano well was considered an essential accomplishment for a young woman in society. In this concert, Dr Polly Sussex gave us a glimpse of recreational music in pioneering life in early Auckland using examples from the musical scrapbooks of the family of early missionary Henry Williams. Now held at Auckland Libraries, these scrapbooks of hand copied music contain fine examples of the sort of music played. Not many families had grand pianos at that time, so the practical second-best was the square pianoforte on which Dr. Sussex performed to concl

In this concert, top string, wind, brass, vocal and piano soloists and chamber musicians from St Kentigern College presented poetical and gorgeous repertoire selected from continental European composers of the Romantic and contemporary periods. The technical mastery these students have on their instruments impressed along with their musicality. The performers are all regional and national representatives as well as finalists and winners of the College Solo Music Competition, an annual highlight for the College community that firmly believes in the intrinsic value of the arts.

The Kotuku Quintet returned to the stage this year with a programme that featured two little-known works for piano quintet from the Romantic era. Frank Bridge’s Quintet in D minor, and Enrique Granados’ Quintet in G minor. The English composer Frank Bridge (1879-1941) was widely respected as a teacher, composer, violist and conductor. His Quintet has been described as ‘a high-point of post-romantic English music’. Today it is hardly known but this fresh, enjoyable, moving work is well deserving of greater popularity. Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867-1916), dubbed by some as the ‘Spanish Grieg’, wrote his Piano Quintet in G minor fairly early in his career and is one of only a handful of chamber works that he wrote. His distinctly Spanish style of classical music can be heard in the second movement, Allegretto, with the suggested strumming of a guitar, accompanying a melancholy song beautifully evocative of a lazy afternoon in the sun.

The Francis-Lee Duo presented a programme featuring the works of two powerful women composers from the 19th century who were dedicated to their craft and to overcoming the challenges they experienced as women in a male dominated industry. After moving to Düsseldorf in early 1853, Clara produced several works, among them the Three Romances for violin and piano, Op. 22.for violin and piano. She dedicated this work to violinist Joseph Joachim, which was later performed for King George V of Hanover. Perhaps the earliest and most prominent American woman composer, Amy Beach was a leading representative of the late 19th-century Romantic style and her works were characterized by technical mastery, spontaneity, and originality. The Francis-Lee Duo performed her richly lyrical and emotional Sonata for violin and piano, Op. 34 - one of her most important works.

Portamento started our Spring series of concerts with a delightful programme where the flame and exhilaration of romance meets the anguish of unrequited love as reflected in Schubert’s magnificent Fantasie in F minor D940. Being one of his most important piano works for 4 hands and dedicated to his student Karoline Esterhazy, it was written just a few months before he died. This dramatic work is contrasted with Debussy’s evocative Petite Suite, then Rachmaninoff’s Valse from Moments Musicaux Op. 11, and concludes with Grieg’s bright and joyous lyric piece Wedding Day at Troldhaugen Op. 65 no. 6 – the ultimate culmination of courting and romance having been written as a memorial of the 25th wedding anniversary of Grieg and his wife Nina.

Today we present a talk by writer, director and actor Dr. Murrary Edmond based on material from his forthcoming book: Time to make a song and dance: cultural revolt in Auckland 1960-1970. The talk was hosted in conjunction with the Curtain Up! exhibition staged at Tamaki Pataka Korero and which explored the rise of professional drama in Auckland. You can find further material from the exhibition in our playlist on Auckland Libraries' podcast page. Here Dr. Edmond concentrates on the rise and fall of the Community Arts Service or CAS Theatre. His research provides an interesting insight into attempts to diversify the dramatic offerings being staged in culturally conservative mid-twentieth century New Zealand. Haramai tētahi ahua! Enjoy the journey! This talk was recorded live at the Auckland Central Library on 13 November 2019. Additional audio: Weekly Review No. 435 (1950) National Film Unit, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Ephemera collection: www.auc

Riddle me this...What do Jo March, Lisbeth Salander, Paikea and the Cat in the Hat have in common? And how does this tie in with our New Year’s Resolutions? Alison and Karen explain all...

This month the Real Gold case makes a connection with the current exhibition Fun and Games! at Tamaki Pataka Korero – the Central City Library. American book artist Julie Chen is noted for her sophisticated and beautiful constructions, often based on the idea of a game. To tell us more about the artist and her work is rare books specialist Georgia Prince in conversation with Sue Berman. Reference: https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3316417 Julie Chen. Personal paradigms: a game of life. Berkeley: Flying Fish Press, 2003.

Ted Dickens worked for Farmers Trading Company for nearly 4 decades. He shares the highs and lows of his career with the New Zealand retailing icon including everything from a controversial winking Santa Clause to racing to replicate a famous royal wedding dress. Sit back and enjoy a summer stroll down memory lane - Haramai tētahi ahua! Recorded live at the Auckland Central Library on 8 May 2019. Image credit: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 9-1 Explore your heritage collections for more content like this here: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/Pages/heritage-collections.aspx Music credit: Childhood by Frank Kölling

In this episode, our BFFs Alison and Karen talk about that great literary sub-genre, the BFB (Big Fat Book). Just perfect for holiday reading and guaranteed to keep you amused for weeks.