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<u>Booklovers’ afternoon tea </u>
Afternoon tea with seven authors was always going to be a treat for me. One week on, the treats have kept coming, as I’ve begun flicking through my pile of new books and reflecting on the privilege of hearing how the creatives behind these works came to the craft of writing.
The fundraising team behind the north Auckland Hibiscus Hospice organised this inaugural Booklovers’ Afternoon Tea and they have no idea what they started for me on that sunny November afternoon at Whangaparaoa College.
For me personally, it has been a magical addition to my learning as a creative writing student, having come to this from a background in journalism.
Authors Karen Breen, Lindsey Dawson, T.E. Scott, Sam Mannering, Karen McMillan, Fiona Sussman and Hannah Tunnicliffe shared their personal stories and they brought their individual style and their favourite, most lyrical passages to the microphone that day.
With my own book in hand – a notebook and a near-empty pen, as it turned out – it was a chance to be uplifted by the highlights and the challenges behind their endeavours. Chef Sam Mannering brought culinary stories to the mix, en route to introducing his latest work Food worth Making. His first book A Year’s Worth – recipes from the Dunsandel Store has long filled my heart – and my baking tins – with memories of the South Canterbury town of Dunsandel, near where my late father spent his most fabulous childhood years. The chance to share my family’s connection with that area and to chat with Sam has added to my memories and to my list of story possibilities.
Ditto too Lindsey Dawson’s inspiring tale behind Scarlet & Magenta, her first historical novel. Its release follows her two fiction and five non-fiction works on the back of her well-known career in journalism as the founding editor of More and Next magazines. Sure, this was a chance for me to renew a professional connection made when I was a freelancer for Next magazine, but this occasion was so much more than that.
Lindsey’s novel was inspired by the letters of her great-grandfather who was the BNZ branch manager in Tauranga in the 1870s. Those letters mentioned a scandal that piqued Lindsey’s creative interest. Her curiosity led to extensive research that included the valuable online historical resource Papers Past (papers plus.natlib.govt.nz). That research background is detailed further in her notes at the end of her book, but to hear a little of it from her was excellent. To hear her bring to life the characters of those Colonial women was inspiring. After all, Lindsey Dawson doesn’t call her publishing house Out Loud Press for nothing.
Which reminds me of something fundamental to all of this that our tutors remind us of regularly: Read your work out aloud. If it doesn’t sound right, then it might just need reworking.
To which I would like to add: Always pack a spare pen with your notebook!
Hi Mandy,
Thank you for that. Actually it was Brian Morris who alerted me to the event and who then suggested I write a piece about it, which I was more than happy to do so.
I should have also added a second note for us to keep our collective eyes peeled on the Student Forum board for future meet-the-author events. They really are worthwhile. It’s good to grab any opportunity to ask questions of these authors whether it is one-on-one or during audience question time.
No question is a dumb question; the chances are the question that you’re brave enough to ask is exactly the same as one someone else is too scared to offer up.
On a personal note, I’d love to learn a little bit more about your own experience. Short stories? Novels? Well done to all of it and for becoming a “graduate”.
Hi Janis, Thank you for your feedback too. Apologies for my taking too long to reply. I need to check into the Student Forum more often and make time for a few more leisurely journeys through its various viewpoints. It is such a fabulous resource and a good counter to the isolation that can threaten at times.
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