Things to love about Ngaio book fair
Iona McNaughton is one of the organisers of the annual Blue Dragon Book Fair held at the Ngaio Town Hall.
Each year people wait outside for the doors to open and last year, despite two Covid-19 postponements, the fair raised $16,500 – all of which was sent to the Blue Dragon Children’s Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam.
A trustee of the Blue Dragon Children Foundation, McNaughton lists five things she loves about the community event.
A great cause
I’ve visited Blue Dragon in Hanoi and I know they use their funds wisely to benefit the children. A few recent statistics: Blue Dragon has rescued 1008 people from trafficking (mainly young women sold into brothels and forced marriages in China); supported 5273 young people to return to school and training; provided shelter to 1133 children; and played 3077 games of soccer.
Wonderful mix
An item in the arts listing page of The Dominion Post in 2020 described it as a book fair for ‘‘discerning buyers’’. The joy of this book fair is the wonderful mix of people who come every year and the books they buy.
Children on the stage
‘‘It’s a highlight of their year,’’ a Northland mother tells me as her two children fossick through the children’s books on the stage. For $30, they can get 30 books.
The stage is packed with families. This year, it will be a families-only stage.
Random stuff
Every year I wear a T-shirt saying, ‘‘So many books. So little time’’. A woman says, ‘‘I like your T-shirt. Politics and Prose is my favourite book store. I’m from DC.’’ I tell her I first visited the Washington DC store 35 years ago when I was visiting my sister.
Big bags, big words
‘‘Have you got any books on numismatics?’’ he asks, already weighed down by several big bags of books. I look around the tables groaning with thousands of books. ‘‘What does it mean?’’ I ask. ‘‘Coin collecting,’’ he says. After hours of browsing, coin collector man buys his books. I hope we see him this year – and I’ll look out for books on numismatics.