Tuesday, 5 June 2018

NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2018

I'm delighted and grateful that The New Zealand Wars has been shortlisted for this year's NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, amongst a crop of brilliant books by wonderful NZ authors. (Very special to have the non-fiction award named after Elsie Locke, too.) 



Monday, 23 April 2018

Anzac Day 2018

On Anzac Day, I'll be remembering the great crew - Aussies and Kiwis, as well as our wonderful Turkish guide Baris, who made up the Gallipoli Volunteers team of 2014.


I'll be thinking of the Anzac services at Kaiparoro, Wairarapa, and Broweena, Queensland, two small communities that are continuing to commemorate the special link between them and their WW1 bridges.



I'll remember our tūpuna who travelled far from home to Gallipoli, the Western Front and the Pacific, including Louisa Bird, one of the first nurses to leave New Zealand for the war in April 1915.


At our local Anzac Day service, we'll remember the people from our community who left for war, some of whom didn't return. 



This year, I'll also be thinking of those who lost their lives, their livelihoods, their land or their loved ones in the New Zealand Wars.