Join us on Tuesday 17th September at 7pm for a special celebrity bookclub: Susie Ferguson, Brodie Kane, Dr Tony Fernando and Gina Chick are coming together for an exclusive event with Booksellers Aotearoa NZ. This event is free and exclusive for Booksellers Aotearoa NZ Members only. RSVP here
A little bit more about the Authors and their books:
Susie Ferguson – Author of Bloody Minded
Susie Ferguson was born in Scotland and is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in New Zealand. After graduating from The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and the University of the Arts London, she became a war correspondent, reporting and presenting from around the world – most notably the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. She emigrated to New Zealand in 2009, and for eight years was co-host of Radio NZ’s top-rating show, Morning Report. She has also made radio documentaries and podcasts including RNZ’s The Unthinkable and Undercurrent: Misinformation in Aotearoa.
Susie now hosts RNZ’s Saturday Morning, is an ambassador for Endometriosis NZ, and lives in Wellington with her family.
Early in her radio career Susie Ferguson became a war correspondent. The only woman among hundreds of soldiers, in a helmet and flak jacket she was one of the boys. None of them knew she was taking fifteen painkillers a day and relying on opioids to stem the burning and stabbing pain in her uterus.
Even bloody-minded grit couldn’t have prepared Susie for womanhood. More than your body’s betrayal, it’s the vicious bullying only girls can do. It’s waiting years for surgery because your pain doesn’t matter. It’s the threat of violence in countries where a woman is either property or the spoils of war. It’s going overnight from a high-powered career to a stay-at-home mum. It’s the doctor who says you’re wasting his time. But it is also friendship, love and having the strength to carry on – and to do it smiling.
Brodie Kane – Author of Woman Uninterrupted
Brodie Kane is a podcast host for The Girls Uninterrupted and Kiwi Yarns, as well a producer, television presenter, MC and keynote speaker. An award-winning journalist, Brodie has loved every minute of her 17 years in broadcasting, across The Hits Breakfast, TVNZ Breakfast, Seven Sharp, Fair Go and Q+A, Newstalk ZB and RadioLive. She recently starred in The Traitors and Dancing with the Stars. She is a surf lifesaver, ultra-marathon runner, and ex-territorial for the NZ Army. Raised in Christchurch, Brodie now lives in Auckland with her mum and hero, Jo, and loves talking (it’s sometimes hard to stop her).
First up: this is absolutely not a guide to life. I’ve done some impressive stuff, but I’ve also slept on the floor of an old Greek man’s house and lost my dignity in the Brunei jungle. I say yes to everything this life has to offer – I’m from the ‘women can have it all’ club – and, boy, have I got the stories to show for it.
From surf-lifesaving to a hungover Army deployment, being broke with a gum infection in Europe, spooning Richie McCaw on a mountain, improvising make-up for Paul Holmes, running my first ultra-marathon and reinventing myself after redundancy: every wild, brilliant and hilarious experience has taught me something new. Whether it’s how not to care about being judged, how to fake it till you make it, how to throw yourself into the unknown or how to push through the pit of despair, I’ve come to love that we are all works in progress. If I fail from time to time, that’s okay too.
Open the book of this open book (me). I want to show you the raw, the real and the vulnerable of a full-volume life and how the greatest moments – or at the very least the greatest yarns – come about by just giving it a crack.
Dr Tony Fernando -Author of Life Hacks from the Buddha
Tony Fernando is a practicing psychiatrist, mindfulness and sleep specialist in Auckland. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the Philippines and his psychiatry and sleep training at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a senior lecturer and multi-awarded teacher in psychological medicine at the University of Auckland, and has been incorporating the Buddha’s teachings into his own life and work as a doctor for the past 20 years. Tony has also been ordained as a Buddhist monk in Myanmar.
Life Hacks from the Buddha: With 50 practical and easy-to-follow life hacks, this book will make you a calmer, happier and more chilled-out version of yourself.
The Buddha worked out how best to deal with the challenges we face today over 2000 years ago. His teachings show us that human stress, anxiety and suffering are nothing new.
Life Hacks from the Buddha will help you to quieten your mind, create more peaceful environments to live in, and find the calm and contentment you need to help you function at your very best, which will leave a lasting impression on everyone around you.
Gina Chick – Author of We Are The Stars
Gina survived alone in the Tasmanian wilderness for 67 days, as 5.4 million people watched on in awe as her connection with the natural world and her realness and honesty set the screen alight. In We Are the Stars, Gina tells her remarkable story with that same authenticity, humour and emotional intelligence, sharing the formative moments of her life and the lessons that shaped her. Her literary heritage shines through her writing: Gina is the granddaughter of legendary writer Charmian Clift and shares her cheekbones as well as her way with words.
Says publisher Jane Palfreyman: ‘Gina’s grandmother’s brilliance is palpable in this extraordinary book. We Are the Stars is a work of remarkable literary talent as well as immense heart, creativity and wisdom. I’ve never read anything like it, and I feel so grateful to have been one of the first lucky readers of what I know will be legions to come in October. I cannot wait for the world to further discover and embrace Gina and her gifts. This is truly the book we need right now.’