October 31 and it’s our national Bookshop Day. We headed down to the UBS and wandered around enjoying the atmosphere, a bustling shop, children listening to stories, people conversing, authors talking to families and the staff dishing out chocolate kissses for customers to give the authors.
Robyn Belton at the authors’ table.
We came away with Brian Turner’s latest book, Boundaries – people and places of Central Otago, David Mitchell’s Slade House and Michel Houellebecq’s Submission. The wind has been wild up our way today so after a brief stint in the garden I surrendered and came indoors to read.
The UBS staff were all dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. I overheard a small girl saying to a staff member, I love your hat, and watched another young lad as he dragged his mother to look at a book, just imagine if THAT was $5.00, he said, imagine! I moved away but I hope he found a book to spend his $5.00 on.
The Cheshire cat was busy on the phone so I only managed to catch a side on photo but the Mad Hatter stopped for a minute and gave me a grin.
Thanks UBS for all the work you went to, to make it a very special Bookshop Day for Dunedin readers.
Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ) 