Radio personality and bibliophile Lily Richards tells her story to Viva.
I've only ever worked in bookshops, the thinking being that at the end of the day I can be certain that, even if I sold someone some cheesy romance, I'd still have been helping people read, and that's fundamentally a good thing."
Lily Richards is a dedicated bookworm, surrounding herself with stories as the brand manager of Auckland's Unity Books, and reviewing titles for TV channel U and bFM show fMorning Glory. "I love doing the reviews; I love the chance to ... not proselytise but espouse maybe ... on what a book can do to the reader," she explains. "Books are unique in the arts; they're accessible, on every possible topic known to man, inspirational, thought-provoking and democratically available to all. And they make you more intelligent, wise and thoughtful. Basically, they're awesome."
Her interest in books and story-telling developed at an early age via creative parents with a natural interest in literature - her mother is an artist, her father an architect - and an appreciation for writing ("I have always written, and there's no writer in the world worth their salt who doesn't read. It's like breathing, the in and the out."). Her favourite tale hints at this early appreciation for stories: "My favourite tale, as it is, would be Rapunzel - the radishes, everyone forgets about them, they just remember her hair - I've always been haunted by that witch and the mother's insatiable craving for radishes."
This love of tales has extended further to True Stories Out Loud, a live story-telling initiative Richards is co-directing with the New Zealand Book Council's Susanna Andrew. Inspired by themoth.org, a New York based live story-telling association, the pair have organised various local True Stories Out Loud events already this year, with the next to be held as part of this month's Basement Fest. The idea is simple: three evenings, three themes and various Aucklanders getting up to tell a true story no longer than 10 minutes. Actor Michael Hurst will talk about rebellion, Labour MP Jacinda Ardern about family, while others telling tales will include comedian and writer Jesse Mulligan, comedian and TV host Rose Matafeo, playwright Arthur Meek, actress Morgana O'Reilly, actor and director Chris Molloy and more. It's a charming and almost old-fashioned premise, in an age of seemingly artificial, Twitter-Facebook-text message inspired miscommunication. As Richards explains, she got on board because of "how perfectly strange it is".
