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Books and Writing

As its contribution to the Auckland Festival, the Auckland Public Library has arranged a small display called "Writing in Auckland: a selection over a century." It will be held in the Central Library, Wellesley Street East, and will illustrate in MS and printed form, work representative of 40 writers connected with Auckland city and province, who

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have gained recognition in the international field of letters.

Among the novelists will be Jane Mander, Robin Hyde, William Satchell, Frank Sargeson, John A. Lee, Eve Lang-ley and John Mulgan. The poets will include A. R. D. Fairburn, R. A. K. Mason, M. K. Joseph, Allan Curnow, Kendrick Smithyman and Keith Sinclair. There will be contributions from men as firmly established in our social and literary history as Sir George Grey, Sir John Logan Campbell, James Cowan, the historian, and F. E. Maning ("A Pakeha Maori"). Others who have a place are Alan Mulgan, E. H. McCormick, John Reid", O. E. Middleton, David Ballantyne, Murray Gittos and J. A. S. Coppard; and if only for their curiosity value we include New Zealand's first novel, "Taranaki; a tale of the War" (1861) by H. B. Stoney, and one of our earliest printed poems, "New Zealand" by R. C. Joplin (1843).

At the same time, elsewhere in the

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library will be another display "New Zealand Book Design". This comprises 43 books and pamphlets produced in this country, and entered in the International Book Design Exhibition held in London in 1953; "a small but decidedly interesting selection" as one British critic put it. His praise was especially lavish as regards the Schools Publications Branch of Education Department productions.