A full weekend of crime in the Library, plus the Robert Burns poetry competitions, give us a rich Celtic vibe this issue.
We're also dipping into Hispanic flavours and culture with the XVIII Latin America and Spain Film Festival. Plus, we prepare for the Ignition Children's Festival by encouraging children to make us laugh with a load of nonsense...
COMPETITIONS
UNESCO Dunedin City of Literature Robert Burns Poetry Competition
This international competition opens on 1st September 2019 for any adult published or unpublished poet.
THIS YEAR THE THEME OF THE COMPETITION IS MIGRATION
Write a poem in English or Scots, on the theme of migration – a new life in a new land, far from home, for your chance to win. Pick up an entry form for any Dunedin Public Library or visit our competitions page for full details, terms & conditions, and to enter online: https://www.dunedinlibraries.govt.nz/whats-on/competitions/robert-burns-poetry-competition
Closing date: Saturday 30th November 2019
Rap Like Robbie Poetry Competition for Teens
Submit your own poem and score yourself $500, sponsored by the Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society. You can write about whatever you like, in English or you can have a go at writing in Scots. It can be any style – just read a bit of Burns’ work and see where it takes you!
This competition is open to all Otago high schools years 9-11.
Pick up an entry form from any Dunedin Public Library, or enter online: https://www.dunedinlibraries.govt.nz/whats-on/competitions/rap-like-robbie
Competition closes Saturday 30th November 2019
Gobbledegook Poetry Competition for Children
National Poetry Day. Inspired by the delightful nonsense poetry of Joy Cowley, we challenge you to celebrate National Poetry Day by writing your own gobbledegook poem to make our judges laugh. Biggest laugh wins! Awesome prizes for you and your school, sponsored by Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day and Ignition Children’s Book Festival – a partnership between University Book Shop Otago and Dunedin Public Libraries.
Open to all South Island primary/intermediate school children (years 1-8).
CLOSING DATE MIDNIGHT MONDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2019
Prizes presented on Saturday 9th November during the Ignition Children’s Book Festival www.ignitionkids.nz
Visit www.dunedinlibraries.govt.nz/whats-on/competitions for full details
SAVE THE DATE: IGNITION CHILDREN’S BOOK FESTIVAL 7th – 10th NOVEMBER 2019!
FESTIVALS
Celtic Noir
Presented by Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival in partnership with the Department of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, we are pleased to host a weekend dedicated to thrillers and suspense. Featuring crime-writing greats, including Val McDermid, Liam McIlvanney, Vanda Symon, Adrian McKinty and Liz Nugent, the Festival promises lectures, workshops, panel discussions and a masterclass, topped off with a musical finale!
Book your place early! Tickets on sale via http://www.dunedinwritersfestival.co.nz/ from September.
Saturday 12th-Sunday 13th October, Dunningham Suite, 4th Floor, City Library
XVIII Latin America & Spain Film Festival
Dunedin Public Libraries are proud to be hosting this wonderful cultural event for the third year running, in partnership with Grupo Hispano Otago. Presented by the Embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru and Spain in New Zealand; and by the Embassies of Colombia, Ecuador and El Salvador, in Australia, this free and non-profit cultural event will run from September 27th to October to 6th in Dunedin, as well as in 10 other cities around New Zealand. Enjoy the culture, traditions and flavours of 10 diverse countries from around the world, united by language.
Opens Friday 27th September with a reception hosted by the Spanish Ambassador to New Zealand Señor Fernando Curcio Ruigómez
RUNS UNTIL 6TH OCTOBER
FREE and all welcome
TALKS
VISIONS FOR DUNEDIN: OUR HERITAGE, OUR FUTURE
150 Years of Heritage: Cherishing New Zealand’s First University
Presented by: University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne
2019 is a milestone year for the University of Otago. Professor Harlene Hayne describes the legacy that the University’s founders and architects created. She will talk about the visible past and how this “vision” has been maintained. She will also describe the way in which heritage is incorporated into the fabric of every-day life at the University, and what the future holds for the University’s historic treasures and traditions. Finally, she will describe how the University now incorporates Māori art and iconography into the built environment, creating a heritage University with its roots firmly in the Pacific.
TOWN & GOWN is the theme for the 2019 Heritage Festival in partnership with the 150th celebrations. Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September www.heritagefestival.org.nz
HortTalk – Botanic Garden Pop-Up Library
We are proud to continue our partnership with Dunedin Botanic Garden this year, supporting their monthly series of talks with a pop-up library of books for further reading on the subject being presented.
September’s talk is by the Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary on plans to being kaka back into North East Valley, while October’s is presented by landscape architect Nigel Cowburn, looking at our changing gardens in a changing climate.
Friday 6th September & Friday 4th October, 12pm – Botanic Garden Information Centre
Author Talk: Craig Cliff – Nailing Down the Saint
Join former Burns Fellow Craig Cliff as he talks about his latest novel, a smart, funny, thought-provoking novel full of surprises.
RSVP: www.dunedinlibraries.govt.nz/whats-on/events-calendar
Monday 16th September, 5.30pm, Dunningham Suite, 4th Floor, City Library
REED GALLERY EXHIBITION
Treasury of Pacific Exploration: Voyaging Literature from the McNab Collection
The latest Reed Gallery Exhibition showcases literature from the McNab Collection about the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand, and the later voyages of exploration by Europeans. Featured items include 17th to 19th century books from the Voyages Collection (which formed part of Robert McNab’s 1913 original gift to Dunedin Public Libraries) and chiefly 20th and 21st century works about the discovery of New Zealand by skilled Polynesian seafarers.
25 October 2019 – 9 February 2020, Reed Gallery, 3rd Floor, City Library