Frankfurt Book Fair 10–14 October 2012
Kia ora koutou katoa!
Aotearoa New Zealand is the 2012 Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. While You Were Sleeping in the Northern Hemisphere we've been writing books, shooting films, growing wine and creating cuisine during the Southern Hemisphere's daylight hours. Manaakitanga is the Māori concept of giving, hosting and taking care of others; during 2012 New Zealand is sharing its writers, ideas and creativity with Germany as our way of gifting New Zealand's light to you. Visit the Ngata Dictionary website which illustrates the use of Māori and English words in sentences and phrases drawn from a wide range of contemporary and traditional contexts.
Maurice Gee: Honoured New Zealand writer
Maurice Gee was named on Sunday May 13 as the inaugural Honoured New Zealand Writer at this years Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.
Pictured is a still from the feature film 'In my Fathers Den' 2004, directed by Brad McGann, adapted from Gee's novel of the same name, published by Faber, London, 1972. The film has picked up numerous awards.
Record breaking number of New Zealand book rights sold into Germany
New Zealand’s role as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair has generated record breaking rights sales for New Zealand writers and publishers.
66 book titles are being translated and published in Germany in 2012, an unprecedented high for New Zealand’s publishing industry.
“New Zealand books have never seen such international exposure,” said Kevin Chapman, president of the Publishing Association of New Zealand and managing director of publishing house Hachette New Zealand.
Hāngī – A real taste of culture
Have you ever attended a hāngī? Or at least heard of one? No? No worries. That’s just one of the many reasons why I’m travelling through New Zealand for you. The purpose of a hāngī is twofold – it’s both an earth oven and a social event. The Māori have been using the hāngī for centuries to cook meat and vegetables. The spectacular preparation method guarantees outstanding flavour. But a hāngī is just as importantly a cultural practice that creates a feeling of community and a bond with the earth. A hāngī requires fire, water, earth, air, time and kai. Kai is the Māori word for food.
The New Zealand pavilion
Andrew Patterson talks to Rhein Main TV about the design of the Guest of Honour New Zealand pavilion for the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2012 (in German).
In search of the porcini mushroom
How far would you go to get your hands on porcini mushroom? Read Leon's tale of intrigue as he is blindfolded and driven out of the city to a secret location in search of the delicacy.
Black Grace – more than dance perfection
Black Grace performances of LAGI in Germany have received critical aclaim. The last performance on their tour of Germany was in Wolfsburg, and the reviews are glowing.
Inside the Glass Hall
The Glass Hall at the Leipzig Book Fair
Alan Duff summed it up well. "I think we've all been astonished by how many people have come to this book fair," he said at an authors' reading yesterday. "There are more people here than at two rugby tests in New Zealand."
Alan was one of a group of New Zealand authors and publishers in Germany this week for the Leipzig Book Fair. Last year, the four-day fair attracted 163,000 visitors, including 45,000 trade visitors and 2,800 journalists.
At sea with the oyster fishermen
Week five and Leon has made it to the very bottom of the South Island to Bluff, the home of the Bluff oyster.
Kyle Mewburn at Leipzig
Writing a successful children's book isn't as easy as you might think.
Finding "fernweh"
Guest blogger Nina Fowler talks to translator and interpreter Jutta Himmelreich about how she finds the right words. Finding "fernweh"
Poet Kate Camp talks Rilke and life in Berlin
New Zealand poet, Kate Camp, answers questions about her life in Berlin on the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers' Residency.
What is the biggest difference between NZ and Germany that you've noticed?
There’s not one big thing, it’s lots of little things. It’s a generalisation of course, but Germans love to analyse things and to have a theory of everything. It’s really intellectually stimulating, there’s the sense that an intellectual discussion about the art is part of the whole artistic project, not something separate that critics or academics do. In New Zealand’s arts community, we tend to just do what we do, and let some other bunch of people analyse it....
Once Were Warriors
You can meet Alan Duff author of Once Were Warriors at the Leipzig Book Fair this year. He'll be at the press conference as we launch our brand this year, and also later on the International Stage and New Zealand Stand at Leipzig discussing his work, inspiration and what makes a New Zealand story. Check out this clip from New Zealand's "first indigenous blockbuster".
The New Zealand String Quartet at the Leipzig Book Fair
The New Zealand String Quartet is Quartet in Residence at Victoria University, located in Wellington, New Zealand's celebrated capital city. They are performing the opening concert for New Zealand as Country of Honour at the Leipzig Book Fair 2012.
Leipzig: Germany’s little Paris
“You've verily hit the truth! Leipzig to me is dear:
Paris in miniature, how it refines its people!”
- Frosch, in Goethe’s Faust
This week will be New Zealand’s first appearance as guest of honour at a very old trade fair. Nina Fowler, pictured left, our guest blogger tells us a little about the city of Leipzig.
Leipzig Book Fair
Messe Grounds before the set up begins.
Read all about our presence at Leipzig this year and see which New Zealand authors are taking to the stage.
New Zealand sopranos in Germany
Aivale Cole and Madeleine Pierard are London-based sopranos, but they were both born and bred in New Zealand. They will be performing during the Leipzig Book Fair this year as part of the launch of the cultural programme for New Zealand as Guest of Honour 2012 at Frankfurt.
Blue skies, yellow lemons and green-lipped mussels
This week sees Leon in the South Island, a place where where one gets in touch with the elements of light and colour. Light blue sky, yellow lemons, and green-lipped mussels.
The transit of Venus, a cultural exchange
This June Venus will pass directly between the sun and earth, crossing the face of the Sun for the last time in this century. Historically, this rare alignment is how we measured the size of our solar system.
