Kerre Woodham’s World

178 books down, 200 signings to go!

Everybody loves Diana!

What a great night!  Nearly 400 gorgeous Wellingtonians turned up to the event at the Duxton last Friday night and they were ready to party.  The mood of an audience can make such a difference to a live show – if people are positive and looking for a good time, it makes it so much easier to perform. 

Diana

Diana loved the energy from the crowd and she delighted us all with her earthy humour and quick wit.  After an address that had the audience roaring for 40 minutes, she signed books for her loyal fans for more than an hour.  She’s a best seller in this country – she knocked Dan Brown off his perch with Echo in the Bone and is still at number one - and she very much appreciates her fan base here.  A great night and thank you Wellington.

What a foul mouthed oik Hone Harawira is.  His ‘apology’ was no sort of apology.  The real sin, skipping a day off work to go sightseeing in Paris, didn’t even rate a mention.  His violent and racist sentiments he affirmed; in fact the only thing he’s sorry for is that he used the word ‘motherf….r’ in his email to a critic.  But really.  Does anyone care what a man like that thinks?  Nobody should consider him representative of all Maori.  That would be like assuming the skinhead idiot from the National Front, Kyle Chapman, speaks for all Pakeha.  Harawira is as extreme and offensive as Chapman and is just as irrelevant to both the political landscape and most New Zealanders day to day lives.  A caller to my radio show last night said Harawira set the worst sort of example to Maori youth when he skived off on the EU trip.  There’s a real problem with young Maori men truanting from school and in choosing to take a tiki tour to Paris Harawira showed them that a) you don’t have to accept responsibility; b) when you’re caught, lie and c) after you’ve lied, blame everybody else for your stuff up.  She’s got a point.  You’d have to wonder what Sir James Carroll, Sir Apirana Ngata, Te Rangihiroa/Sir Peter Buck and Maui Pomare - great politicians who benefited not only their people, but the country – would make of a foul mouthed oaf like Harawira.  They’d be turning in their graves.

The fabulous editor of the Healthy Food Guide, Niki Bezzant, has a new book out just in time for summer and it’s fabulous.   Packed full of delicious, healthy, easy to prepare meals for friends and family – it’s called Eating In and it’s available now.  This is one of the recipes from it: Continue Reading »

Paullina in full flight

What a great night and what an absolute darling Paullina is!  280 came along to the Hyatt for the Paper Plus Books and Bubbles Paullina Simons event and she didn’t disappoint.  The women (and three men!) who came along enjoyed a well presented delivery from Paullina – she had slides and music and offered glimpses into her own life as well as insights into how her books come to be and how her characters evolve.  She’d been up since 5 in the morning but you wouldn’t have known such was the energy of her talk.  It’s wonderful to see an author have so much respect for her readers.  She is genuinely grateful that her readers give her the chance to live the life of a writer – a life she loves.  Next time she’s in New Zealand, you’d be mad to miss her!  Here are some photos from the event: Continue Reading »

Rodney’s apology was a cracker.  Not the sort of weasel words you generally get from a politician caught with his (or her) trotters in the trough.  Normally, a politician’s apology is a Clayton’s type apology; the sort you expect to hear from a six year old ie; I’m only doing this because you’re making me, and it’s so unfair, and it wasn’t my fault anyway and I don’t mean a word of it.  Rodney delivered his with sincerity and conviction.  He’s paid back the money and in future, he’ll pay for Ms Crome’s travel expenses himself.  To be clear, he’s entitled to the travel subsidy but the furore around his romantic rendezvous was because he’s made his political name campaigning against the perks and culture of entitlement in Parliament.  So he’s really, really sorry and he’s paid the money back.  Good.  And yet …. what on earth can change a man so much that he can renege on everything he has professed to believe in?  Can he be that much of a silly, old, besotted fool?  And if a man can change so much, how do we know he won’t change again?  Is the old Rodney back – or is he only back briefly to deflect the political heat from his darling?

I’m a relatively new convert to running with an i-Pod.  My daughter gave me one for Christmas though and I’ve just got round to loading all my favourite bogan rock numbers that remind me of my youth.  What are the must have songs on your exercise playlist?  For me, U2’s Beautiful Day lifts my spirits and my tired feet; Hey Ya by Outkast always cheers me up and Green Day’s Holiday has such a driving beat, I’ve done a couple of ks before I know it.  What are the songs that keep you moving?

And the winners are: Continue Reading »

For my column on the perk buster gone bad, click here:

For my column on that odious potty mouth, Hone Harawira, click here:

For my update on Brian Tamaki, click here: