Weekend of indulgence for women of the word

Rather than curling up with a good book, you can immerse yourself in all things literary this weekend, writes MARGIE THOMSON.

Carole Beu, queen of the Women's Bookshop on Ponsonby Rd and mover and shaker of the Women's Book Weekend activities this weekend, imagines herself at 85, with an open book in her hands. "No, not yet," she cries to the imaginary reaper. "I haven't finished my book!"

This great love of books and the worlds and experiences they evoke has been her chief motivation for at least a dozen years, since she gave up her career as an English and drama teacher and took over the old Broadsheet offices on Dominion Rd. What she set up there, she has since discovered, was like women's bookshops the world over: virtually a women's community resource centre, a clearing house for flatmates, tickets, help of all kinds.

In the intervening years some things have changed - she sells fewer feminism books and is instead a major stockist of counselling and self-help texts (which is interesting from a political point of view, she wryly observes) - but the sense of a bookshop at the beating heart of a market niche has not been lost.

A couple of years ago the shop moved to its new premises, and about that time Beu joined the board of Booksellers New Zealand. She fits into the book world much better than she used to, but thinks this is because the structure has opened up, rather than that she has changed.

Now, for the second year in a row, her dramatic flair has been rewarded with the title of Bookseller of the Year for promotional activities. With her programme for this weekend - not to mention her other activities, such as readings and book launches, sponsorship of the Kim Hill-interviews-famous-writer events that attract up to 800 people a time, and her regular bookshop newsletters and website comprising reviews and interviews - it's easy to see why.

The Women's Book Weekend offers two days of nonstop activity. Saturday's programme begins with a writing workshop with Stephanie Johnson, followed by a discussion between Joy Cowley and Patricia Grace. There's an introduction to Tivaevae, poetry with Anna Jackson, children's books, Pat Rosier and Joan Metge talking about communication and working relationships, readings from teenage writers, and a discussion among Stephanie Johnson, Rebekah Palmer and Aorewa McLeod titled "Stories are less about facts and more about meanings".

On Sunday, the day starts with a reading and talk by Alison Laurie about her new book, Lesbian Studies in Aotearoa/New Zealand, followed by barrister Deborah Hollings speaking on the complexities of the Property (Relationships) Act, and Gill Sanson, author of an important new book on osteoporosis. The afternoon includes sessions on lesbian relationships, readings from Shonagh Koea, Emma Neale and Sue Wells, Patricia Grace and Cathie Dunsford, as well as discussions on women in the maritime industry, and Joanna Wood's new book Katerina: The Russian World of Katherine Mansfield.

But the Women's Book Weekend is just a part of a broader timetable of celebrations for World Book Day Aotearoa, an initiative of Booksellers New Zealand and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

The New Zealand Book Council has brought four overseas authors here - Marion Halligan, Juliet Marillier, Robert Rankin and Bill Watkins - to take part in events around the country.

Rankin (author of at least 22 weirdly named novels such as Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls and Nostradamus Ate My Hamster) and Watkins (author of two memoirs, A Celtic Childhood and Scotland is Not For the Squeamish) each appear at separate events on Sunday. Both are known for their wit, and are blokey enough to be adequate antidotes for the overwhelmingly female weekend. However, it should be pointed out that the Women's Book Weekend is descriptive rather than prescriptive - the authors are all female, but the audience by no means must be.

The book council is trying to distance itself from solemn, literary elitism, both in its choice of visiting authors and in its appointment of pop and TV star Teremoana Rapley as its ambassador for World Book Day.

Rapley is a great symbol for the day, which was designated by Unesco as a worldwide celebration of literacy. A bookworm since she was a small child, Rapley used to spend all her money earned from working in dairies and paper rounds on books. She especially loved Roald Dahl then, and still does today - she is reading The BFG to her 8-year-old (she also reads to her 4-year-old and 4-week-old).

For herself she has moved on to ethics, science, science fantasy.

"Reading still brings the same delight it did as a child," she says. "With books you can imagine what you want. It's not like PlayStation or television where everything is laid out for you: you have to imagine the characters, the places ... They stimulate your mind and give you knowledge."

Beu also doesn't watch television. "There are so many wonderful books," she says. "I know I'll never get through them all, but it's so exciting to know there will always be a really good book waiting to be read."