Biodiversity Express begins its journey
On Friday, October 15, 2010, some of New Zealand’s finest nature writers and poets will board the Biodiversity Express, a multimedia road-show to celebrate ‘2010, International Year of Biodiversity’.
The Express team of writers and poets has been drawn together by Canterbury Biodiversity Co-ordinator Wayne McCallum and includes 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award winner Brian Turner, ‘bard of the paddock’ Colin Patterson, and artist, writer and activist Sam Mahon.
”Bringing this calibre of writers together to celebrate and champion Canterbury’s biodiversity is a real highlight for me. We are looking forward to experiencing how local communities add to each event to create something diverse and special,” says Wayne McCallum.
The Express will start its journey in Christchurch’s Victoria Square amphitheatre at 12:30 pm with a Māori blessing and selected readings from Colin and Sam. In the event of bad weather, the journey will instead start after the evening event at Scorpio Books on Friday evening.
It will then travel to Twizel, Geraldine, Okuti Valley (near Little River), Waipara and Kaikoura for a series of multi-media celebrations of Canterbury’s biodiversity up to October 22. The itinerary is online at http://www.canterburybiodiversity.org.nz/BiodiversityExpress.html#events.The Express will feature a selection of recently made biodiversity themed films and art and each of the stops will add local talent and ‘flavour’ to their event.
Mr McCallum says that each community event will create a greater appreciation of unique local environments and the variety of plants and animals that make up their rich biodiversity.
The winner of the over 15 category from the MyBiodiversity film competition will also be presented with their prize at the launch and as part of their prize, will nominate their favourite biodiversity cause to receive a $500 donation. The winner of the 15 and under category will receive their prize at their own local event in Kaikoura.
”We received 15 films across the two age categories; each providing a unique perspective on the biodiversity around them. The standard was incredibly high, showing that we really are a country of budding film makers,” says Mr McCallum.
Scorpio Books will host a celebration of the Biodiversity Express at their store in Hereford Street, Christchurch from 6pm in the evening. They have kindly agreed to provide cheese and wine and an opportunity to hear from Colin Patterson and Sam Mahon. There will be a limited number of signed copies of the Express team’s books available for sale on the night.
For more about the Biodiversity Express visit www.canterburybiodiversity.org.nz or follow the Express online.