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Kia ora koutou!
Welcome to our October 2026 newsletter,
Spring has well and truly sprung here at the libraries, with the school holidays in full swing at the time of writing. Energy levels are enhanced in our otherwise calm surrounds, and longer daylight hours suggest busier times in the months ahead.
Lizzi Tremayne will be welcomed back to Buller to provide an exclusive 'first look' at her newest historical fiction novel, which is set principally on the Denniston Plateau near Westport in the 1890s. While in town she will be placing the finishing touches on her manuscript in consultation with the experts at Friends of the Hill, and is excited to see the places featured in her story, again. Lizzi is an author, educator, and equine veterinarian, and she brings a diverse lifetime of travel and experience into her books, fiction and non-fiction alike.
Week two of our school holiday programming will keep the focus on backyard nature, with a particular eye towards the animals common in our neighbourhoods. Whānau in both Westport and Reefton are encouraged to take part by building a simple bird feeder with us, and creating something fresh and exciting with our library Lego sets.
The intrepid Avi Schlüter returns this month to tell the story of the Swedish explorer and researcher Otto Nordenskjöld and his team in Antarctica, and Ara from the Electoral Commission is in Reefton again to help prepare us for the fast-approaching General Election 2026. Bonus Scrabble sessions on Wednesdays are also set to play, so there's something for everyone this spring at the libraries.
We look forward to seeing you soon - perhaps on a Tuesday evening during our extended Daylight Saving opening hours, if you're in Westport.
Kia pai tō rā,
Your Buller District Libraries team.
Spring Break school holidays
Buller District Libraries staff have already been having as much fun as the kids these school holidays, helping plant a variety of species in our take-home 'little garden' activity.
Sunflowers and sugarsnap peas proved the most popular seeds planted, and a little bit of soil science also got imparted to the tamariki who attended... here's to fresh food and flowers this season!
Week two of our school holiday programme continues the backyard nature theme.
Come feed two birds with one scone and enjoy crafting while providing a spring calorie boost for our feathered friends... we will be building simple bird feeders!
This activity will be facilitated at both branches, Tuesday 6 October at 3.00 pm in Westport and Thursday 8 October at 2.30 pm in Reefton.
The perennially popular Lego brand is having another moment, and we have lots to enjoy at both branches.
We'll have dedicated table space set aside for our brick builders at the Sue Thomson Casey Memorial Library in Westport on Wednesday 7 October at 3.00 pm.
Create a critter from the natural world - or the unnatural one - and let your imagination run wild this springtime!
What's on?
"Nic wanted to get far away from where his mam died and all… but did he and his father really have to go halfway around the world on a ship to New Zealand? Leaving far behind in Cornwall his beloved horse, not to mention any chance of reaching a dream no boy of his class should even consider—certainly an impossibility in his parochial new home.
This 1890s historical fiction coming-of-age story, set amongst the pit ponies of the rain-lashed Denniston Plateau coalfields on the rugged South Island West Coast, plumbs the depths of loss, desire and new hope."
We're thrilled to host Lizzi, once again, at the Buller District Libraries. She will be at the Sue Thomson Casey Memorial Library in Westport on Wednesday 7 October at 11.00 am and then at the Inangahua County Library in Reefton later that day at 2.30 pm. Don't miss the chance to meet Lizzi and hear her exclusive new book preview, folks!
In the 2026 General Election you can't enrol or update your details after midnight, 25 October 2026.
Ara will be back at the Inangahua County Library on Tuesday 6 October at 1.00 pm.
Stop in to the RVSC and she will help you get sorted for this November.
Before the great many Antarctic expeditions from the Heroic Age, a pioneering Swedish expedition ventured into the largely unknown Antarctic Peninsula, and found themselves facing an ordeal every bit as remarkable as the famous Antarctic survival stories we know so well...
Aviaaja returns to the Sue Thomson Casey Memorial Library on 20 October at 6.30 pm to tell the story of Otto Nordenskjöld and his team. Learn of the extraordinary events that unfolded and the influence their experience would later have on people like Shackleton.
Bonus Scrabble Wednesdays
In addition to our regular Saturday scrabble sessions, we are happy to announce a bonus series of dates for your much needed mid-week word fix: 14, 21, and 28 October, 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm.
If these bonus Wednesdays prove popular, additional dates may be added in the future; don't miss out, come get your game on at the Sue Thomson Casey Memorial Library!
Books to check out in October
The grit and grandeur of 1980s New York City drive this rollicking story, the final part of author Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Trilogy".
Review excerpt (from The Guardian):
The Harlem Trilogy, like its hero Ray Carney, is a cool-headed trickster, more ambitious and far-reaching than its dimestore facade would suggest. Carney’s tale can be relished as a set of shaggy-dog crime capers that bound from the high-stakes heist to the mysterious bag of loot to the fraught getaway through the rat-infested back alley...
Now along comes Cool Machine, the grandstanding final chapter, which pitches us into the dirty, regenerative 1980s. That means hip-hop on the stereo, graffiti on the subway cars and a widening gulf between rich and poor. It means, in this case, a plot that plays like pop-art Marxist noir, jam-packed with cultural references and thrumming with class and racial tensions.
Just in time for Halloween; from the author's website:
Fly to England, become friends with a ghost, and catch a thief with Freddie Jones in the second book of the new mystery series by Kate Foster.
Freddie, Hobnob and Grandma Lilly are setting off to England, where Freddie's parents have been hired to investigate a series of thefts at the luxurious Langbourne Hotel. Freddie's excited for his first trip to the other side of the world, but Grandma Lilly doesn't seem her usual self.
When Freddie overhears someone making threats in the garden - and sees a girl that he's pretty sure is a ghost! - he decides to open a new case for FGH Detectives. Freddie hopes that solving the Case of the Ghostly Garden will pull Grandma Lilly out of her slump ... and maybe even help his parents catch the hotel thief, too!
1000 Books Before School
The 1000 Books Before School programme encourages children, along with their parents and caregivers, to read 1000 books during their first five years. Sign up and get your startup pack and a FREE book! The pack includes your first reading chart, book bag, sticker character map, brochure, and a folder to keep all of your reading material together. Let's get reading, whānau!
Our digital pick for October
Kanopy
Using your Buller District Libraries card, you can access Kanopy. With an expertly curated collection of narrative and documentary films we think you’ll enjoy, we’re pleased to bring this streaming service to our community. Go to kanopy.com to get started today.
Hei konā mai | Goodbye for now 😊
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