“We New Zealanders regard ourselves as practical … sports-loving people but we are also dreamers, writers and prolific readers.” This is the beginning of the speech made by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany last week. Many New Zealanders love to read and we have a number of excellent writers.
This year New Zealand has been chosen as the Guest of Honour at the book fair. Seventy New Zealand writers attended. They gave talks on topics like: books for young adults, crime writing, comedy writing, poetry, short stories, Pacific stories, and cooking. They read from their books. Their books were also for sale, some in English and some in German translation.
It was not just writers at the book fair. New Zealand also sent artists, actors, dancers, musicians and chefs. Chefs prepared New Zealand food for the crowds. The New Zealand hall was very popular, with queues of people wanting to attend performances.
While the book fair is mostly for people who work in the book business, like publishers, there is now more interest in the digital media, film, food and culture. New Zealand hopes to encourage young Germans to visit our country, to study here and to find out more about our culture.
Vocabulary
• practical – can make things or fix things that don’t work
• prolific – a great many
• queue – a line of people
• digital media e.g. electronic books