This is a true story. This is two stories. It is a history of Timbuktu, a place with myth and legend wrapped around it, and it is the tale of librarians and archivists who worked hard to protect precious manuscripts from destruction. The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu details the events of 2012 as Timbuktu (in Mali…
Goldilocks and the three book club books
The very best thing about belonging to a book group is the variety of new reads to which one is exposed. And if, like moi, you belong to not one but five book groups (two in Christchurch, one online, and with connections to two in South Africa as well), there will come a month when…
2017 Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day
When I first heard of Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day, I immediately thought of someone heading off in the dead of night with a new poem in one hand and a pot of paste in the other. The poem would then be pasted onto a wall or lamp post for us to read the next day. I…
Podcast – Making a difference
Christchurch City Libraries blog hosts a series of regular podcasts from specialist human rights radio show Speak up - Kōrerotia. This show is created by Sally Carlton. What motivates people to 'make a difference' - and what actually do we mean by the phrase? Guests Billy O'Steen (University of Canterbury), Sarah Campagnolo (Volunteering Canterbury and Gap…
The joy of coding
At school in England in the early 1980s I was given the opportunity to join an afterschool computer club. The only problem was that, being the early 1980s, our school didn’t actually have a computer. We had to write our programs in thick, dark pencil on stacks of cards that were taken away to a…
Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner
I’m an avid reader of thrillers. I read both ‘stand-alone’ novels but also the increasingly popular format of a primary character that features in a series of books. I am particularly keen – once I have found a character I can empathise with – to read them all, but the main proviso has to be…
Behind the scenes at Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre
The new library, community centre and museum Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre opens tomorrow Saturday 19 August. After the opening ceremony, Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre will be open from 3pm to 4.30pm. You can explore this new facility, and borrow items from the library collection. Today we had a look around this newest Ōtautahi community space just before it…
He’ll be back: The Terminator returns… again
Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. This is how Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese describes Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 in the 1984 film The Terminator. He…
Curragh Cottage, Ferrymead Heritage Park, 3 April 2010: Picturing Canterbury
Curragh Cottage, Ferrymead Heritage Park. Originally erected at 104 Holly Road and relocated to Ferrymead Heritage Park in 1972. Photograph taken 3 April 2010. Kete Christchurch is a collection of photographs and stories about Christchurch and Canterbury, past and present. Anyone can join and contribute. Visit Kete Christchurch View more Picturing Canterbury posts Do you have any further photographs of…
Hamilton aims for the sky
There's a song by the comedy band Tripod with a line that goes: "I always get into stuff/ Just as it's finishing being cool...", and embarrassingly this often applies to me. A couple of years ago I listened to the first song of the (Alexander) Hamilton musical and thought it was good, but it didn't blow me…
11 - 20 of 53
- Previous page
- Go to page 1
- Go to page 2
- Go to page 3
- …
- Go to page 6
- Next page
