Our Incredible Dogs

So here’s my new book! It was meant to be on the shelves a few months ago, but Covid-19 delays with printing and shipping mean it's only just arrived. 

It’s quite different from my last few nonfiction titles and I still haven’t come up with a short and pithy way to describe it. Maybe a mixture of NZ history, art – and animals? 

The idea for it has been sitting at the back of my mind for years, ever since I wrote a piece on Paddy the Wanderer for the School Journal (a plaque about him sits above a drinking fountain for people -  and dogs! opposite the Museum of Wellington)  - 

-  and the idea came back when I was searching for my Antarctic book and found sled dog Hector in Lyttleton. 

And like any Wellingtonian, I often pass this statue at the bottom of Plimmer steps. 

Gradually I started to realise how many dog statues and sculptures there are in NZ – more than of any other creature, and I started to wonder why and where they all are. These are the ones I’ve managed to track down - maybe there are more! 

I've found out about dogs that were brave heroes and loyal companions, talked to sculptors about how they made their dog sculptures and come across dog statues and sculptures in the most unexpected places. 

There are dog statues up and down the country, so if you’re travelling around NZ on holiday in the next few months, take a copy of this book with you and see how many you can find.  

Our Incredible Dogs

Publisher: New Holland

ISBN: 9781869665395

Hardback

Price: $24.99
(or check with your local bookshop)

The best 10 things about Tinderbox 2015...

... or possibly more than 10:

1. The amazing organising committee. I know they were amazing because I worked with them. Unflappable, generous, competent, helpful, friendly, welcoming - and a whole lot of other wonderful attributes.

2. The atmosphere created amongst everyone who was there. Collaboration was an underlying theme of the conference, and there was collaboration and cooperation in spades. People were willing to share what had worked (and hadn't worked) for them, and were truthful and honest about both successes and failures. Sometimes their honesty was breathtaking and humbling.

3. Inclusivity was another outstanding feature. Whoever you were - the newbie writers and illustrators who worried beforehand that they felt like "frauds", or the most experienced and award-winning amongst us - there was total equality and respect shown to everyone.

4. Connections - before, during and afterwards. People started to link up on our Facebook page and through our Sparks project from the moment that registrations opened. Some people arrived on Friday morning not knowing anyone else at all, but by Friday afternoon the conversations were buzzing and it got harder and harder to send everyone off to the next sessions on time after a break.

5. Positivity. I've been to a number of writing-related events in the last few years where the mood has been one of discouragement and uncertainty. We weren't ignoring current trends in publishing and bookselling that can lead to that kind of thinking - but the overall mood this time felt quite different: lighter, more hopeful and with a sense of more possibilities out there.

6. Creativity. That wasn't even on my original list of 10, but how can I leave it out -

What the Illustrators were busy making, hidden away in the Art Room....

7. The venue - almost as quirky as Capital House, the venue for the Spinning Gold conference in 2006 (and nobody who was there will ever forget that.)

8. The delicious food, served up for morning teas, lunch and afternoon tea by Frances and her wonderful band of Year 12 helpers.

9. The cocktail party on Friday night, hosted by John and Ruth McIntyre at The Children's Bookshop in Kilbirnie; drinks, nibbles, shelves crammed with tempting books, and many of the authors and illustrators on hand to sign them; what more could you want, except for a few of John's many pearls of wisdom (and Julia Marshall, suddenly appearing in the doorway like Mary Poppins at a crucial point in his speech.)

10. The conference dinner on Saturday night: more good food and wine, even noisier conversation and the party tables still going strong when the rest of us left; Fifi Colston's hilarious talk about the story behind the Amazing Activity Book (which included ambulances, an unposted letter delivered on the spot after 15 years, a gift-wrapped parcel to Helen Clark and a secret meeting in a carpark) and an equally fascinating talk by Julia Marshall and Kate de Goldi about an exciting new Gecko project.

That's 10, and I haven't even got to the sessions yet, I think another list might be needed.

Waitangi Day: more photographs

These are photos of Oihi Bay - an empty beach, but full of history!

During my research trip  to Waitangi, I visited a lot of the sites mentioned in the book. Some of these were places I'd been to before, but some were completely new to me. 

One of these discoveries was Oihi (or Hohi) Bay. When we reached the carpark (after a long winding drive) we weren't even sure where the track went. Marsden Cross is visible if you know where to look, but we couldn't see it at first. 

But then we found the track, and the Cross, and Oihi Bay - such a beautiful spot, and nobody there except us!

 Oihi Bay is where Samuel Marsden conducted his Christmas Day sermon in December 1814. You can read more about it on pg 11 of my Waitangi Day book. 

Waitangi Day: photographs

This is a photograph of the stained glass window in St Mary's Church, Lydney, Gloucestershire, England. The reason behind the New Zealand-themed window (that's the Franz Josef Glacier in the background) is all to do with Lord Bledisloe. 

It was Lord Bledisloe who bought the house (once owned by James Busby) and surrounding land at Waitangi and gifted it to the nation in 1934.  If it wasn't for his generous gift, we might  not have the Treaty House today. (You can read more about him on pg  21 of my Waitangi Day book - and did you know that he donated the Bledisloe Cup as well?) 

Lord Bledisloe was a very popular Governor General, for a number of reasons, and he and Lady Bledisloe felt a special link to New Zealand for the rest of their lives. When they returned to England, Lord Bledisloe donated this window to his local parish church.  

This was one of the images that took a while to track down, and in the end it arrived too late to go in the book, but I still like it! 

credit: Nick Fenby

More on Waitangi Day

Waitangi Day: the New Zealand story

This has been one of the hardest pieces of writing I have ever done, and one that has challenged me both personally and professionally. 

There were days when we were still tracking down images and it felt highly unlikely that we would ever meet the printing deadlines, but thanks to the wonderful publishing team at New Holland, here is my new book, just in time for this year's Waitangi Day.