Kia ora e hoa ma. Nga mihi o te ra ki nga akonga me nga kai ako put i noa tenei whenua ataahua. ...
Greetings to all you teachers and fine students throughout Aotearoa.
It was a pleasure to meet you all so recently. I enjoyed presenting my stories and poetry to you all.
The standard of the sudents work at workshops was also of high quality.
It was great to meet so many committed and helpful teachers. Above and beyond that I was encouraged by the positive, and fine abilities of our young students who are polite helpful and full of fine positive qualities.
Should students or teachers wish to ask questions or discuss my writing I am more then happy to do so.
MAY YOUR PENS FLOW FROM YOUR HEARTS
Na to hoa Aroha
Apirana Taylor
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
What a great week
Dear Readers and Writers in Franklin,
What a great week I had visiting your wonderful schools, and seeing something of the beautiful countryside as I travelled from school to school. Thanks for making me feel so welcome.
I was very impressed by the variety of thoughtful questions I was asked about writing. You had all prepared really well. Let me know if there is anything else you wanted to ask, that we didn't have time for . . . except about how to do the magic tricks!! :-)
It was great to be reminded that Ed Hillary went to Tuakau Primary School and that Elsie Locke attended Waiuku School and set her book, "The end of the harbour", in the area. (It's a very good book, worth a read.)
It made me wonder what other writers and illustrators live, or lived, in the Franklin District. It might be fun and interesting to make a map and match up authors with places. This website could help: http://www.christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/ChildrensAuthors/
Those of you who started writing stories during the workshops, how did you get on? Did you get to the end of your stories?
Have any of you played any of the word games and come up with some more unique combinations of possible stoy starters?
Do let me know. I'd love to hear from you.
And remember, stories are all around you.
From,
Bill Nagelkerke
What a great week I had visiting your wonderful schools, and seeing something of the beautiful countryside as I travelled from school to school. Thanks for making me feel so welcome.
I was very impressed by the variety of thoughtful questions I was asked about writing. You had all prepared really well. Let me know if there is anything else you wanted to ask, that we didn't have time for . . . except about how to do the magic tricks!! :-)
It was great to be reminded that Ed Hillary went to Tuakau Primary School and that Elsie Locke attended Waiuku School and set her book, "The end of the harbour", in the area. (It's a very good book, worth a read.)
It made me wonder what other writers and illustrators live, or lived, in the Franklin District. It might be fun and interesting to make a map and match up authors with places. This website could help: http://www.christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/ChildrensAuthors/
Those of you who started writing stories during the workshops, how did you get on? Did you get to the end of your stories?
Have any of you played any of the word games and come up with some more unique combinations of possible stoy starters?
Do let me know. I'd love to hear from you.
And remember, stories are all around you.
From,
Bill Nagelkerke
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Melanie's Pukekohe visit.
Kia Ora everybody,
I have just come down to earth after my great week in and around Pukekohe. What a beautiful area, even if it did rain on you nearly every day at exactly three o'clock. It was good to meet so many people and hear what you had to say about your writing, and my books. Thank you to all the schools for making me feel welcome, and all of you tamariki for asking such thoughtful questions.
I wonder if any of you work-shoppers went home and planned a story?
Can you remember how I grow my tiny ideas into stories? Well I certainly hope those big porky pies you will be telling from now on will make your stories interesting, and not get you into too much trouble. Hmmm, and if they do- well who knows there could just be another story there!
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Arohanui
Melanie Drewery
I have just come down to earth after my great week in and around Pukekohe. What a beautiful area, even if it did rain on you nearly every day at exactly three o'clock. It was good to meet so many people and hear what you had to say about your writing, and my books. Thank you to all the schools for making me feel welcome, and all of you tamariki for asking such thoughtful questions.
I wonder if any of you work-shoppers went home and planned a story?
Can you remember how I grow my tiny ideas into stories? Well I certainly hope those big porky pies you will be telling from now on will make your stories interesting, and not get you into too much trouble. Hmmm, and if they do- well who knows there could just be another story there!
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Arohanui
Melanie Drewery
Thursday, June 26, 2008
'fish 'n' chippers' question from John Parker
Oops! Forgot to ask the question I'd like you to respond to.
Can you tell me about a writing technique/topic/tip that helped you write well?
Look forward to hearing about it.
John Parker
Can you tell me about a writing technique/topic/tip that helped you write well?
Look forward to hearing about it.
John Parker
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
hi, fish 'n' chippers!
John Parker here, back from a great week in Southland, visiting schools and teachers and classes. Having lived in Riverton for a while, it was very satisfying to return to this wonderful part of the country.
That title? As I said when I was talking to you, fish 'n' chips go together very well - and so do reading 'n' writing. I've not yet met a good writer who's not also a good reader. So get stuck in and start reading! A reading habit will reward you so much in terms of teaching you about yourself and other people, about feelings and situations and cultures and just about everything on Planet Earth - and beyond. Plus, of course, you develop a sense of language: the sentence, the look and sound of a word, fullstops and commas and semi-colons and apostrophes, paragraphing, sequence, the relationship between illustrations and the text - and so on!
So how about doing your literary fish 'n' chips on a daily basis. And if you've not yet discovered an author you want to read, ask the librarians, or your friends, or just keep looking. I think everyone has an author/book dying to meet you and get acquainted.
I think it's really important, when you're writing to 'own' your topic. That means knowing about it or feeling quite strongly about it so that you can write with confidence, with plenty of things to say about the topic - and also with the confidence to write exactly about that topic with well-chosen words.
And it's very important, too, to list or note down the things you would like to write about. They'll probably be under your nose: the food you like best, the footy try you scored, the great way you beat goal defence to give your tean the victory, your cat's favourite sleeping-place. Or you might like to write to your local newspaper about something that's bothering you and that you want the council to fix. There are many ways of writing creatively.
Lastly, let your writing simmer. If you rush it your subconscious won't have a chance to bubble up with ways of improving your writing. So keep on drafting!
I look forward to hearing about your writing - and your reading.
All the best
John Parker
That title? As I said when I was talking to you, fish 'n' chips go together very well - and so do reading 'n' writing. I've not yet met a good writer who's not also a good reader. So get stuck in and start reading! A reading habit will reward you so much in terms of teaching you about yourself and other people, about feelings and situations and cultures and just about everything on Planet Earth - and beyond. Plus, of course, you develop a sense of language: the sentence, the look and sound of a word, fullstops and commas and semi-colons and apostrophes, paragraphing, sequence, the relationship between illustrations and the text - and so on!
So how about doing your literary fish 'n' chips on a daily basis. And if you've not yet discovered an author you want to read, ask the librarians, or your friends, or just keep looking. I think everyone has an author/book dying to meet you and get acquainted.
I think it's really important, when you're writing to 'own' your topic. That means knowing about it or feeling quite strongly about it so that you can write with confidence, with plenty of things to say about the topic - and also with the confidence to write exactly about that topic with well-chosen words.
And it's very important, too, to list or note down the things you would like to write about. They'll probably be under your nose: the food you like best, the footy try you scored, the great way you beat goal defence to give your tean the victory, your cat's favourite sleeping-place. Or you might like to write to your local newspaper about something that's bothering you and that you want the council to fix. There are many ways of writing creatively.
Lastly, let your writing simmer. If you rush it your subconscious won't have a chance to bubble up with ways of improving your writing. So keep on drafting!
I look forward to hearing about your writing - and your reading.
All the best
John Parker
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Southland Tour - from Claire Vial
Hello!
I am now back in Auckland after a wonderful visit to Southland. This was my first time to Southland and what a wonderful place it is. Friendly people, sunny weather, stunning scenery and delicious food!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time speaking to groups of students and teachers. It is always a delight for me to see peoples faces light up when giving my presentation; as it reminds me how fortunate I am to be able to combine and share my love of photography, knowledge and writing.
I would like to thank all the students and teachers of the schools I visited for their hospitality, great listening and superb questioning skills.
I hope from my visit you were able to take away with you some insight into the amount work and energy that goes into publishing a non-ficition book; plus some new fascinating information about African animals.
All questions or comments are welcome - I will do my best to answer them.
In the meantime, my question to you is "what two things can you do to improve your non-fiction writing"?
Hope to hear from some of you soon.
Claire
I am now back in Auckland after a wonderful visit to Southland. This was my first time to Southland and what a wonderful place it is. Friendly people, sunny weather, stunning scenery and delicious food!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time speaking to groups of students and teachers. It is always a delight for me to see peoples faces light up when giving my presentation; as it reminds me how fortunate I am to be able to combine and share my love of photography, knowledge and writing.
I would like to thank all the students and teachers of the schools I visited for their hospitality, great listening and superb questioning skills.
I hope from my visit you were able to take away with you some insight into the amount work and energy that goes into publishing a non-ficition book; plus some new fascinating information about African animals.
All questions or comments are welcome - I will do my best to answer them.
In the meantime, my question to you is "what two things can you do to improve your non-fiction writing"?
Hope to hear from some of you soon.
Claire
Monday, June 23, 2008
Southland Tour
Hi students and teachers,
I haven't been to Southland for many years and I'm really looking forward to visiting schools in your part of New Zealand. I live in Howick on the outskirts of Auckland, but like country areas as I grew up in a small town called Waipu in North Auckland. Quite a few of the stories I've written have an historical background. I wonder if that's partly because the early settlers to both Howick and Waipu have made them places of historical interest.
I'm looking forward to telling you about becoming a writer, the way I go about producing a story, working with an illustrator, (or doing the illustrations yourself), suggestions for your writing, etc. I also hope to see what writing projects you have done and learn about your school and and the local area.
Your questions are welcome - I'll do my best to answer them.
One question for you from me - what is one very good way to increase your chances of becoming a writer?
See you soon,
Jennifer Beck
I haven't been to Southland for many years and I'm really looking forward to visiting schools in your part of New Zealand. I live in Howick on the outskirts of Auckland, but like country areas as I grew up in a small town called Waipu in North Auckland. Quite a few of the stories I've written have an historical background. I wonder if that's partly because the early settlers to both Howick and Waipu have made them places of historical interest.
I'm looking forward to telling you about becoming a writer, the way I go about producing a story, working with an illustrator, (or doing the illustrations yourself), suggestions for your writing, etc. I also hope to see what writing projects you have done and learn about your school and and the local area.
Your questions are welcome - I'll do my best to answer them.
One question for you from me - what is one very good way to increase your chances of becoming a writer?
See you soon,
Jennifer Beck
Monday, April 21, 2008
From Kate De Goldi
Dear Northland students...sorry about the delay in reporting to you after the magnificent trip with the Book Council...I had an excellent time with every single group I spoke to or worked with...the week is a glorious swill of incidents, faces, names, landforms...and feijoas, which I am now officially obsessed with (the ones in the supermarket down here in Wgtn are very insipid compared to those straight from the trees in Northland...
To business: my earnest hope is that you're all writing - but even more importantly - READING...if I was to efficiently distil all that I said to creative writing classes it would boil down to this:
1.First you must be a passionate, attentive and wide-ranging reader. A writer learns his or her craft firstly from watching the masters...as student after student said in class in answer to the question, What do you learn from reading?: you learn how to make sentences, how to create character, how to shape story; you learn vocabulary; you learn about difference; you see your own life reflected; you learn that you are not alone in the universe; you learn what it is to be human.
It's the same with writing: that is why we write - to learn about ourselves and to discover what we don't know...
2. A good writer is second of all A Noticing Person: a good writer is alert in the world, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling...a good writer (as Margaret Mahy has said) must go out and 'wrench story from the world' - you have to look for it, and the way to look for it is by observing the world around you - being attendent on what people say, how they say it, what they look like, the way they do things; by noticing trees, the sky, buildings, aromas, the words that are written everywhere - on signs, on vehicles, etc; by noticing the quality of light in a room, the sound of silence, the shape of something in your hand; by looking down and up and around...a good writer is a pilot fish, nosing through the water, sucking up experience...and then:
3. A good writer Records: you must note down everything you observe...keep a notebook...keep several. Write it all down (don't worry about style, simply record)...the reason you do this is that otherwise you'll forget! Record and then re-read: you'll be amazed at how much you don't remember noticing...and, curiously, the more you record, the better you get at noticing...it's an extremely fruitful process....and then something else happens:
4. A good writer Connects: once you get into the habit of noticing and recording, inevitably you start making connections between things...a good writer becomes habituated to seeing story in unlikely connections between observations. To take an example of my own that I related in a few classrooms:a) an anxious 11 year old boy comes constantly into his mother's bedroom late at night to ask questions (do you think this spot is cancer? what if an earthquake happens? How likely is it that bird flu will come? What if the smoke alarm batteries are flat? etc; b) I notice trucks around town saying 'Document Destruction; c) A friend of mine has always called his (real) father Uncle George; d) I think Gordana is an unusual and intriguing name for a girl; e) what if your mother named all her children after the cities they were born in?; f) a friend fiddles with the mechanism on a music box so that the tune is played backwards....and on and on...all these were things I wrote down in my notebook: they began to connect in mysterious ways and suggest a story...that story is now The 10pm Question, a novel I've just finished.
But that novel took four years...a good writer needs stamina and committment - and has to be prepared to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite...A question hangs over all this: why should anyone be interested in reading what you write? Why indeed? The answer, I believe, is that a good writer persuades the reader they want to read because a good writer REPRESENTS the world in fresh and interesting ways...
5. A good writer takes what they have observed, recorded and connected up and gives it back in surprising ways...we all see the world differently - the trick is to capture the reader by presenting our take on the world in startlng or unexpected ways...two of the best tools a writer has in this regard are simile and metaphor...
Here's a lovely quote about metaphor, from the American writer Jane Yolen: 'What is a meta-phor? The answer is: mis-direction. We say one thing, something important, in terms of something else...
...We live our lives through metaphor... John Ciardi has so wisely called metaphor ‘an exactly felt error’... and the idea that metaphor is important to human thinking is not new. It was old when Aristotle said ‘to make metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.’ And, I suppose, one might add it implies an eye for differences as well...
A number of the exercises I did in creative writing classes were around metaphor - seeing something in terms of something else...A pineapple, to take Wallace Stevens fine example, is also, a hut standing alone beneath some palms, and some green genii coming out of a bottle...many of you performed metaphoric miracles with a pair of scissors...
So, my questions for you:
What have you READ this week?
What have you NOTICED?
What have you WRITTEN DOWN in your notebook - what kind of a notebook do you have?
Have any connections started up in your head?
How are you getting on seeing things in terms of something else - MISDIRECTING? What else is a vacuum cleaner besides being a vacuum cleaner? What is the sound of your teachers voice really? When your parents look at you in that particular way what animal do they suddenly become?
More later...Kate
To business: my earnest hope is that you're all writing - but even more importantly - READING...if I was to efficiently distil all that I said to creative writing classes it would boil down to this:
1.First you must be a passionate, attentive and wide-ranging reader. A writer learns his or her craft firstly from watching the masters...as student after student said in class in answer to the question, What do you learn from reading?: you learn how to make sentences, how to create character, how to shape story; you learn vocabulary; you learn about difference; you see your own life reflected; you learn that you are not alone in the universe; you learn what it is to be human.
It's the same with writing: that is why we write - to learn about ourselves and to discover what we don't know...
2. A good writer is second of all A Noticing Person: a good writer is alert in the world, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling...a good writer (as Margaret Mahy has said) must go out and 'wrench story from the world' - you have to look for it, and the way to look for it is by observing the world around you - being attendent on what people say, how they say it, what they look like, the way they do things; by noticing trees, the sky, buildings, aromas, the words that are written everywhere - on signs, on vehicles, etc; by noticing the quality of light in a room, the sound of silence, the shape of something in your hand; by looking down and up and around...a good writer is a pilot fish, nosing through the water, sucking up experience...and then:
3. A good writer Records: you must note down everything you observe...keep a notebook...keep several. Write it all down (don't worry about style, simply record)...the reason you do this is that otherwise you'll forget! Record and then re-read: you'll be amazed at how much you don't remember noticing...and, curiously, the more you record, the better you get at noticing...it's an extremely fruitful process....and then something else happens:
4. A good writer Connects: once you get into the habit of noticing and recording, inevitably you start making connections between things...a good writer becomes habituated to seeing story in unlikely connections between observations. To take an example of my own that I related in a few classrooms:a) an anxious 11 year old boy comes constantly into his mother's bedroom late at night to ask questions (do you think this spot is cancer? what if an earthquake happens? How likely is it that bird flu will come? What if the smoke alarm batteries are flat? etc; b) I notice trucks around town saying 'Document Destruction; c) A friend of mine has always called his (real) father Uncle George; d) I think Gordana is an unusual and intriguing name for a girl; e) what if your mother named all her children after the cities they were born in?; f) a friend fiddles with the mechanism on a music box so that the tune is played backwards....and on and on...all these were things I wrote down in my notebook: they began to connect in mysterious ways and suggest a story...that story is now The 10pm Question, a novel I've just finished.
But that novel took four years...a good writer needs stamina and committment - and has to be prepared to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite...A question hangs over all this: why should anyone be interested in reading what you write? Why indeed? The answer, I believe, is that a good writer persuades the reader they want to read because a good writer REPRESENTS the world in fresh and interesting ways...
5. A good writer takes what they have observed, recorded and connected up and gives it back in surprising ways...we all see the world differently - the trick is to capture the reader by presenting our take on the world in startlng or unexpected ways...two of the best tools a writer has in this regard are simile and metaphor...
Here's a lovely quote about metaphor, from the American writer Jane Yolen: 'What is a meta-phor? The answer is: mis-direction. We say one thing, something important, in terms of something else...
...We live our lives through metaphor... John Ciardi has so wisely called metaphor ‘an exactly felt error’... and the idea that metaphor is important to human thinking is not new. It was old when Aristotle said ‘to make metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.’ And, I suppose, one might add it implies an eye for differences as well...
A number of the exercises I did in creative writing classes were around metaphor - seeing something in terms of something else...A pineapple, to take Wallace Stevens fine example, is also, a hut standing alone beneath some palms, and some green genii coming out of a bottle...many of you performed metaphoric miracles with a pair of scissors...
So, my questions for you:
What have you READ this week?
What have you NOTICED?
What have you WRITTEN DOWN in your notebook - what kind of a notebook do you have?
Have any connections started up in your head?
How are you getting on seeing things in terms of something else - MISDIRECTING? What else is a vacuum cleaner besides being a vacuum cleaner? What is the sound of your teachers voice really? When your parents look at you in that particular way what animal do they suddenly become?
More later...Kate
Thursday, April 10, 2008
making art for picture books
Hello all my new friends up in the far north of New Zealand. I had such a great time visiting you all in your classrooms. What lovely places you have to work.
I've been wondering if any of you have had a chance to share one of the books I showed you with your families. Especially your grandparents. I would love to hear if you have.
Were any of you able to tell them some of the tricks I shared with you about using your imagination.?
Were they surprised you knew how the pictures were made?
Have any Grandparents had a special story from their past that they shared with you?
Have any of you had a go at making pictures using your imagination?
Have you experimented with some unusual materials?
Maybe if you have a piece of work you have made you could send me a copy of it. Art work is always more rewarding when it is shared.
Hope to hear from some of you soon.
Lindy Fisher
I've been wondering if any of you have had a chance to share one of the books I showed you with your families. Especially your grandparents. I would love to hear if you have.
Were any of you able to tell them some of the tricks I shared with you about using your imagination.?
Were they surprised you knew how the pictures were made?
Have any Grandparents had a special story from their past that they shared with you?
Have any of you had a go at making pictures using your imagination?
Have you experimented with some unusual materials?
Maybe if you have a piece of work you have made you could send me a copy of it. Art work is always more rewarding when it is shared.
Hope to hear from some of you soon.
Lindy Fisher
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
A wonderful time up north
Kia ora,
I look forward to reading your replies and answering any questions that you may have for me.
Regards
Tim Tipene
Back in Auckland now after a tremendous time in Northland on the sky is the limit when you read tour. It was great to visit the various schools and talk with the students, and it's been ages since I've eaten so much fresh fish, mussels and scallops. I also met up with allot of whanuanga.
I was certainly tired when I got back. And there's been little rest for me since. I've run seven Warrior Kids classes already this week. I'm looking forward to the up and coming School holidays when I'll be able to get some much needed down time and when I'll be able to do some writing.
A big thank you to all the students who I was able to spend some time with on the tour. I thank you for sharing your time with me and for the respect you gave with your listening and your questions. It would have been nice to have longer with you. I also enjoyed speaking with teachers at the workshop in Kaitaia.
As many of you know I didn't do so well at school. I was in special classes from the beginning and when I was expelled from High School as a second year fifth former, (year 12), I left not being able to tell the time on hand clocks, I didn't know my times tables and I couldn't even say the alphabet, yet I loved writing. I fell in love with writing from an early age and have never stopped. Writing allowed me to escape the hardships of an abusive childhood. It's been my voice, a lifeline. Writing's given me a sense of connection spiritually and allowed me to be free. I hope you have something that you feel passionate about.
Funny isn't it? I didn't do well at School, but now I go into them regularly talking about writing and my books, and running Warrior Kids.
I've been asked to set a question related to my Schools visits. I guess for me, what I would like to know is what was the main thing you got from my talk?
I look forward to reading your replies and answering any questions that you may have for me.
Regards
Tim Tipene
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
the sky is the limit when you read Northland tour
Hi guys,
Welcome to the writer's blog for the sky is the limit when you read Northland tour. My name is Sarah, and I run this programme, Writers in Schools, and the New Zealand Post Book Awards Tour.
Kate De Goldi, Tim Tipene and Lindy Fisher will each blog three times about issues that have been raised through their visits to your schools. Remember, they are writers, and they want to know your questions and see your stories - but they won't mark them for you!
I hope you have fun with this, and teachers - you can contact me if you have any problems with the content of this blog.
thanks, Sarah
Welcome to the writer's blog for the sky is the limit when you read Northland tour. My name is Sarah, and I run this programme, Writers in Schools, and the New Zealand Post Book Awards Tour.
Kate De Goldi, Tim Tipene and Lindy Fisher will each blog three times about issues that have been raised through their visits to your schools. Remember, they are writers, and they want to know your questions and see your stories - but they won't mark them for you!
I hope you have fun with this, and teachers - you can contact me if you have any problems with the content of this blog.
thanks, Sarah
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