Recently, I was given the opportunity to prepare some interview questions for one of New Zealand’s authors, Tessa Duder.

The interview was centered around her latest book, The Sparrow, which is a story of false identities, escape, and new beginnings in Aotearoa. It was shortlisted for the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults - a series of awards presented each year to celebrate the excellence in children and young adult literature. Although I was not able to interview the author in person, it was certainly a cool experience. In fact, this is my second time proposing interview questions for an NZ Book Award author; last year I did the same for Eileen Merriman. 

You can read the full interview here: https://www.read-nz.org/news/article/nzcya-author-chats-tessa-duder 

Tessa Duder has some interesting answers to the questions, so definitely give it a read if you’re interested in NZ literature!

I would also like to inform students about the organisation that gave me this opportunity: Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. They present a wide range of programmes to promote books and reading in New Zealand. Now, I realize that reading is not a common interest to everyone in this screen-age, but for those who are interested, I would highly recommend getting involved in a program known as Hooked on Books. In this program, you can pick a book by an NZ author from the current catalog and it will be sent to you, free of charge. You have around a month or so to read and write a short review on anything and everything about the book. Once edits are made by the coordinator, the review will be published on their website, https://www.read-nz.org/. 

So, what are the benefits of participating in these reviews?

1. You get a free book sent right to you - you can add this to your home collection.

2. You get help to write and publish your own review.

3. Your voice is heard; any comments or insights you have about the book, you can definitely talk about in your review.

4. Other readers can use your review to decide whether they should read the book, too.

5. It’s great practice for essay writing, without the pressure of it being assessed.

I have been involved with this since Year 11, and have done a total of 15 reviews from authors like Eileen Merriman, S. R. Manssen, Sarah Delany, Anne Kayes, S.J. Pratt and Tony Chapelle. If you would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to ask me! Alternatively, you can check out their website, https://www.read-nz.org/hooked-on-nz-books, for more information.

“Reading makes life better.”  - Read NZ Te Po Muramura