RIP?

Last week, I returned from being away to learn that NZ Book Month had been indefinitely postponed, coming on top of the NZ Book Awards having been postponed until 2016 for lack of an anchor sponsor.

Support for literature, books, and reading is, it seems, at an all time low ebb in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Rachael King

But Rachael King, author and Literary Director of the WORDChristchurch (Books & Writers’) Festival, together with others, has started the  #NZBookMonthMay tag on Twitter, trying to drum up grass-roots support for NZ literature, readers and writers.

I am supporting #NZBookMonthMay and New Zealand SFF or “speculative fiction” literature by tweeting a book a day throughout the month of May. I’ve even started m’own hashtag to complement #NZBookMonthMay:

#NZSpeculativeFiction

You’re welcome to share it if you’re tweeting NZ speculative fiction books.

This is how my list looks to date:

May 1: The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox
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May 2: The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
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May 3: Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand edited by Mark Pirie & Tim Jones
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I would like to invite everyone reading this post to do the same in whatever social media environment you may inhabit — choose a ‘style’ of NZ literature as I have, or focus on your favourites regardless of style or format (eg fiction, non fiction, poetry, crime, history, children’s books — the list is endless.)

Together, let’s make #NZBookMonthMay rock!

And if you’re reading this post and have the financial clout to sponsor either the NZ Book Awards or NZ Book Month, or know a person or an organisation that does — then think about asking that person or organisation to step up for NZ literature, or consider doing so yourself.

Because there must be someone out there, whether individual or organisation, who has the wherewithal to be be a sponsor and thinks literature and literacy, reading and writing, important enough to our society to make the commitment. Surely?