TIBE

I’m Maori and some people say that a long time ago we came from Taiwan. If I look vaguely familiar, do say kia ora, hello.

WITI IHIMAERA is of Maori descent and became the first Maori novelist with the publication of Tangi, 1973. His subsequent work includes The Matriarch, 1986, The Whale Rider, 1987, Ask The Posts of the House, 2007, The Parihaka Woman, 2011 and The Thrill of Falling 2012. The first volume of his memoir, Maori Boy: A New Zealand Childhood was published in New Zealand in November 2014. He is Emeritus Professor and teaches creative writing at Manukau Institute of Technology, South Auckland.

Three of Witi Ihimaera’s books have been made into feature films, Whale Rider, 2002, Kawa (Nights in the Gardens of Spain), 2010, and White Lies, 2013. A feature film is currently in production in New Zealand of his novel Bulibasha, King of the Gypsies and is expected to be premiered internationally at the end of 2015. Ihimaera’s most recent awards have included an inaugural Star of Oceania Award, University of Hawaii, 2009, a laureate award from the New Zealand Arts Foundation, 2009, the Premio Ostana International Award, 2010 and the Toi Maori Maui Tiketike Awardm 2011. His book White Lies won the fiction category of the Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards, 2013. A busy writer, Ihimaera’s most recent international appearances have been at the inaugural ANZ Festival of Literature, London, Paris Book Fair and Edinburgh Literature Festival. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Titles: Whale Rider and Bulibasha are published in Taiwan by Asian Culture.

http://asianculture.com.tw

Contact: Chih-Feng LIAO  asianculture201106@gmail.com

The first time I used chopsticks, was in Taipei in June 1970. They were plastic chopsticks and the dish was abalone and straw mushrooms. It was slow eating!

 After 45 years of practise, I am familiar with chopsticks and eager to return to the city of fine Asian food.

Joy Cowley was born Levin 1936, 4 children, 13 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren.

Married to Terry Coles. Patron Storylines. Writer and teacher of writing. 21 years on faculty of Highlights summer writing schools USA.

Books for adults: 7 novels, 2 volumes of short stories, 5 volumes of spiritual reflections.

Books for children: 1100 early reading books,  57 picture books, 4 collections short stories, 17 novels.

Hobbies: Spinning/knitting, woodturning, painting

Awards/Honours: See website: www.joycowley.com

Title info:

Snake and Lizard and Snake and Lizard: Friends  are published in Taiwan by Children’s Publications Limited.

www.012book.com.tw

Contact: Robert Lin, Chairman cplemail@ms11.hinet.net

Stories of the Wild West Gang will be published in January 2015 by Linking Publishing Company.

Speed of Light will be published before TIBE 2015 by Linking Publishing Company

The Greedy Cat series will be published before TIBE 2015 by Linking Publishing Company

www.linkingbooks.com.tw

Contact: Shan-Yuan Lee, Rights Manager linkingrights@udngroup.com

L-R: Tim Gibson, Ahn Zhe, Ant Sang, Rachel Fenton, 61Chi, Chuang Yung-shin, Aho Huang

The three graphic novelists chosen to produce joint publications with their Kiwi counterparts have been in New Zealand this week to begin their projects under the wing of NZ Book Council.

Chuang Yung-shin is a well-known commercial film director in Taiwan. In 1997 he published Film Maker’s Notes, a comic which recorded his life and has been reprinted 18 times. He has gone on to publish two further award winning works.

61Chi had her first book of comics, Room published this year. She belongs to the new generation of Taiwanese comic artists, with versatile drawing talents and a range of skills across genres.

Ahn Zhe’s work encompasses graphic design, illustration and storyboard design, but his true passion lies in art as well as image and word creation. The Dream Under the Bed was published in 2011, and he has also contributed to collections.

Their New Zealand collaborators are Tim Gibson with a background in illustrating worlds, characters and monsters for films including Tintin, District 9 and Avatar.

Rachel Fenton, a novelist, poet and graphic novelist. Her work has been published both online and in print and includes cross-genre collaborations with other creative professionals.

Ant Sang is an award-winning graphic novelist who has also produced numerous short comics for anthologies and educational purposes. His Shaolin Burning received an Honour Award at the 2012 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.

Meeting for the first time on Monday last, the teams had a session covering structures and themes, aided by the Taiwanese translator Aho Huang. They followed with a walk on the beach at Long Bay.

Tuesday saw the collaborators – accompanied by NZ Book Council’s Catriona Ferguson – descending on K Road to check out the stock at local comic stores.

The second phase of joint effort will take place in Taiwan next February, and the results of the collaboration will be presented at the Taipei International Book Exhibition as part of New Zealand’s Guest of Honour programme.

Joan Druett is …. Eagerly looking forward to hot pot and hot spas, and the Chinese New Year decorations in the streets.

Joan Druett is an independent maritime historian and writer, married to Ron Druett, a highly regarded maritime artist who regularly shows in galleries in both New Zealand and New England.

In 1984, while exploring the tropical island of Rarotonga, she slipped into the hole left by the roots of a large uprooted tree, and at the bottom discovered the grave of a young American whaling wife, who had died at the age of twenty-four in January 1850.  It was a life-changing experience, crowned by the award of a Fulbright fellowship.  Since then her life has been devoted to finding out more about the more unusual voyagers under sail, including women, children, and the Polynesians the captains picked up in New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

As well as producing many award-winning books of maritime history, including the bestselling Island of the Lost, she is the author of the popular Wiki Coffin murder mysteries. Her biography of an extraordinary Tahitian, Tupaia, the Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator, won the general nonfiction prize in the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards.

Title info:

Tupaia, the Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator will be published in Taiwan by Locus Publishing in January 2015.

www.locuspublishing.com

Contact: Vinelle Pan, Rights Director  vinelle@locuspublishing.com