Poet, writer and journalist Kirsten Warner talks with Karen about her debut novel 'The sound of breaking glass', a tour de force set in Auckland in the 1990s which invites us to contemplate how many ways of shattering, or of being shattered, one person’s story can contain, from ceilings at work to terrible family secrets at home.

Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog:

https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/books-and-beyond-kirsten-warner.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. Catch us on Planet FM 104.6, Sundays at 9.35pm.

This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 2 December 2018.

Biographer, oral historian and memoirist Deborah Shepard talks with Karen about her new book 'The writing life', in which twelve of New Zealand's most acclaimed and admired writers speak candidly about their lives and their work, and an Auckland Libraries Top 100 book.

Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog: https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/books-and-beyond-deborah-shepard.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. Catch us on Planet FM 104.6, Sundays at 9.35pm.

This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 16 December 2018.

Louisa chats with Peter Millett, kiwi author of over 50 entertaining children’s picture and story books. Peter introduces his new book 'More Classic Rhymes for Kiwi Kids', and the latest in his superhero Johnny Danger DIY Spy series, which we find out is as popular in the UK as back home in Aotearoa NZ.

Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog: https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/books-and-beyond-peter-millet.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. Catch us on Planet FM 104.6, Sundays at 9.35pm.

This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 18 December 2018.

Karen and Louisa shine a light on some offbeat literary awards you might not have heard of, such as the Diagram Prize for Oddest Title, the Weird-Ass Picture Book prize and the Three Tokes Anti-award.

Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog: https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/books-and-beyond-literary-prizes.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. Catch us on Planet FM 104.6, Sundays at 9.35pm.

This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 11 November 2018.

George Grey needs little introduction: governor, Premier, assimilationist, invader of the Waikato - a man of war, politics and letters, and estranged from his wife Lady Grey.

Not so well known is that from 1853 Grey was guardian for his half niece, Annie Maria, and that Annie's marriage to Seymour Thorne George gave Grey a family life for most of his remaining years.

You can find the images mentioned in the talk in the Auckland Libraries' Heritage Images collection:

- Mansion house, Kawau Island: https://bit.ly/2Uaheja

- Grey with Thorne George family: https://bit.ly/2KbpGKD

- Seymour Thorne George: https://bit.ly/2CNzqEH

David Verran is a local historian who worked for many years in the research centre at the Auckland Central Library. This is the second time he has spoken on the subject of Governor Grey. You can find David's talk "Napier the man" in the Heritage Talks 2018 playlist.

Recorded at the Auckland Central Library on Wednesday 27 March 2019.

Image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 7-A3034

Music: Nostalgia by KAELIN ELLIS

Listen to New Zealand genealogist Jan Gow QSM FSG interview keynote speaker Dr Nick Barratt.

"Nick started work in television for BBC as a specialist archive researcher for a number of programmes, including House Detectives. His main claim to fame was as the genealogical consultant leading the team of researchers for the first four series of Who Do You Think You Are. Nick lectures on a range of subjects including family, house and local history; the history of greater London; and medieval history, in particular Magna Carta, the reigns of Henry II, Richard I and John, and democracy through the ages." - nickbarratt.co.uk

Graduate student and Auckland Library Heritage Trust Cook/Banks Scholar, Jake Bransgrove illuminates a couple of key figures from the age of intrepid discovery. He personalises these larger than life figures by looking at their historical context and in particular the relationship between the two as revealed through manuscripts held in Auckland Libraries' Sir George Grey Special Collections.

You can access the manuscripts mentioned in the talk, along with their transcriptions, through the library's research platform Kura: https://bit.ly/2JJBkvZ

Recorded at the Auckland Central Library on Wednesday 20 March 2019.

Image: "The great South Sea Caterpillar, transform’d into a Bath Butterfly" by James Gillray. Text read at beginning of track is taken from this work.

Music: Plutian - Sailing. Released by DreamScape Records

Robert Eruera, Poukokiri Taonga Tuku Iho Māori, in conversation with Sue Berman, Principal Oral History and Sound.

Robert discusses the Ngā reta Māori / Māori letters donated by Sir George Grey and shares the background behind the curation of Kīnaki and selection of the six letters featured in the exhibition. He also talks about the collection's significance and its accessibility through Kura: Heritage Collections Online.

https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/manuscripts/search/searchterm/Grey%20New%20Zealand%20Maori%20letters%20-%20Ng%C4%81%20reta%20M%C4%81ori/field/collec/mode/exact/conn/and

You can hear a selected 6 letters read here:

https://soundcloud.com/auckland-libraries/sets/kinaki-ng-reta-m-ori

Tāwhiao Tūkaroto Matutaera Pōtatau Te Wherowhero , (1825-1894)

Letter written to Governor George Grey

Ko te 15 o Hūrae 15 1850

15 July 1850

E hoa, e Te Kāwana,

Homai he pounamu waina kia rua hei kīnaki i aku haraputu.

Kia rongo mai koe, kei taku korokoro taku mate.

Nō konei au i hiahia ai ki te w(h)aina hei whakangāwari mō taku korokoro.

Abstract:

Asks for two bottles of wine to complement his arrowroot. Says that he has a sore throat and wants the wine to ease it.

Ngā reta Māori

Grey New Zealand Māori letters

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections

GNZMA 170

https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/manuscripts/id/4441/rec/6

Read by: J. Ramanui

Music Intro: Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns

Sound Engineering: Justin Rodenas & Sue Berman

Recorded at Te Oro Studios Glen Innes

Tāmihana Te Rauparaha, Ruta, nee Ruta Te Kapu, (182?-1870)

Letter to Lady Grey at Wellington, written at Otaki

Hepetema 25, 1848

25 September 1848

E tōku hoa aroha,

E Mata Kerei,

Tēnā koe, kōrua ko tōu hoa ko Kerei.

Tēnei anō tōu aroha kua tae mai ki a au, nā Tamihana i mau mai.

Ka nui tōku mīharo ki a koe, ka waiho rawa tēnei hei tohu aroha mōku ki a koe. Tāu mea homai noa mai ki a au, [k]ātahi anō te ritenga pai nā koutou nā te Pākehā. Ko tā mātou nei ritenga ko tangata Māori, he paru kau nā koutou i pai ai mātou.

E hoa, e pai ana au ki tō kupu haere mai kia kite i a mātou.

Tēnā rā kei mate tōu hiahia ki te haere mai ki konei.

Kotahi anō tāku i w[h]akam(ā) ai – he kino nō taku w[h]are hei nohoanga mō tāua. Tēnei anō taku kupu w[h]akataukī,

“He ahakoa kotahi anō te pō ki te w[h]are kino, ka hoki anō ki te w[h]are pai”.

Nā, He ritenga tēnei mō kino i Ōtaki nei.

Heoti anō,

Nā Ruta Tamihana.

Abstract:

Greets her and her husband. Acknowledges her gift that Tamihana brought, expresses her wonder at it and says it will remain as a token of her love for her [Grey]. Refers approvingly to the Pākehā custom of giving in comparison with the Maori custom; adding that they [the Pākehā] improve them.

Expresses her pleasure in her saying she will come and see them, saying her only reservation is her poor house, adding a proverb ‘Never mind one night in a bad house when you can return to a good house’, remarking that it is in reference to the roughness of Ōtaki.

Ngā reta Māori

Grey New Zealand Māori letters

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections GNZMA 557

https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/manuscripts/id/4800/rec/1

Read by: Judith Waaka

Music Intro: Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns

Sound Engineering: Justin Rodenas & Sue Berman

Recorded at Te Oro Studios Glen Innes