Ladies love an opportunity for a get together and a glass of bubbles. What better way to do it than with the sensational Kerre Woodham for a good old gossip about chick lit, dating tips, marathon running, being a domestic goddess and why the world is your lobster.

The Paper Plus Group is giving Christchurch women the chance to have a Girls Night Out to remember with a special Books & Bubbles at Hotel Grand Chancellor on Friday 2 October. Hosted by Kerre Woodham, guests will enjoy a panel of high profile authors providing an unforgettable evening of entertainment.

The stellar line-up includes internet dating guru Rachel Goodchild, Christchurch based author and columnist Joe Bennett, media veteran and domestic goddess Wendyl Nissen and author of bestsellers Bonkers and Divine Michelle Holman.

“Women these days balance a busy professional career with parenthood and deserve a night out to unwind” said Paper Plus Group Marketing Manager Lyle Hastings. “They can do just that at Books & Bubbles Girls Night Out and bring along their friends for a great night of entertainment as Kerre Woodham speaks to guests about her experiences going from Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner and our panel of authors chat about their books.”

The event will be held at Hotel Grand Chancellor from 6pm and guests will be treated to a complimentary glass of bubbles courtesy of Morton Estate on arrival. Along with sumptuous canapés from Regal Salmon, there will be goody bags for each guest, and a fabulous $500 hamper to be won with thanks to L’Oréal Paris.

Entry to the event costs $45 and tickets can be purchased from all Christchurch Paper Plus stores or online at www.booksandbubbles.co.nz, where you will also find a schedule and details of upcoming Books & Bubbles events. All proceeds from the events go towards Paper Plus’ chosen charity Cure Kids.

More about the panelists:

Rachel Goodchild – After trawling the internet for love and friendship, experiencing the highs and lows of cyber match-making, and meeting other people on the same path, Rachel Goodchild decided to compile these stories in a bid to help readers avoid disasters and head straight for the person of their dreams. Rachel is a full time writer for magazines and newspapers as a columnist on the joys of dating, providing some helpful tips and hints along the way.

Joe Bennett – Brighton born, Cambridge University educated and Lyttleton resident, Joe Bennett is a full-time freelance columnist and author. Three-time Qantas Media Columnist of the Year award winner, Joe is one of the country’s most widely read and popular syndicated columnists, both in newspapers and magazines. Joe Bennett’s erudite and wryly amusing commentaries on the foibles and eccentricities of modern life qualify him as one of our best-loved grouches. Joe’s latest The World’s Your Lobster has bottled the best of 2009’s writings and is set to be another hit with fans.

Michelle Holman – After returning from her ‘Big OE’ to the UK which beckoned at the tender age of seventeen, Michelle returned home to New Zealand in 1989 with her ‘Pom’ husband in tow and started a family. Working as a nurse and managing community health projects, Michelle always had the urge to be a published writer and on New Years 2005 set the goal of being just that! Her first book Bonkers was born in 2007 and paved the way for her second successful novel Divine followed by her latest Knotted to be released on October 1^st this year.

Wendyl Nissen – For more than 25 years, Wendyl has been at the front of the media pack – first as an eager young journalist, then as the influential editor of a string of high-profile women’s magazines, a television producer and writer, and a popular radio commentator and columnist. Wendyl’s bestseller Bitch and Famous details her magazine career. Her latest and another bestseller Domestic Goddess on a Budget released in May this year, is a user-friendly guide to saving time and money without losing your sense of style or humour. This how-to for women includes recipes for tried and true environmentally friendly cleaning products providing great alternatives to the expensive and chemical ridden concoctions on the supermarket shelves, as well as beauty products!

ends

About Paper Plus

The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is f New Zealand’s largest stationery and bookseller. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 106 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.

For more information please contact:

Lyle Hastings
Group Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
+64 (0)9 261 0702
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz

Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5545
+64 (0)27 232 0009
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Paper Plus books spokesperson Kerre Woodham is visiting Napier on Friday 11 September to chat about her favourite reads alongside two special guest authors. David and Karen Anderson from Paper Plus Napier invite the community to attend the evening event and enjoy a glass of bubbly while talking with Kerre and other guests about favourite books.

Guests will enjoy special appearances by authors Nicky Pellegrino and Dr Dave Baldwin. Nicky started writing the day she learned that Angela D’Audney, a close acquaintance, had a brain tumour – and she hasn’t stopped since. She started with Angela’s autobiography, A Wonderful Life, and then moved on to her signature Italy-themed novels, Delicious, The Gypsy Tearoom, and her latest, The Italian Wedding. The latter, about discovering who your family members really are, is a feast of food and love.

New Zealand’s first and only Flying Doctor, Dr Dave Baldwin provides an aviation medical service to pilots in remote areas of the country. Dave’s book Healthy Bastards provides the essential prescription for every bloke – laughter! Dr Dave has taken every common health problem affecting the average bloke and summarised the remedies into main points, making for a painless and easy read.

In addition to being a bookworm Kerre is a writer, having published last year’s bestseller Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner, a characteristically witty and candid account of how she worked her way to fitness and completed both the Auckland and New York Marathons – all after inauspiciously turning up to her very first training session with a hangover.

David and Karen say the evening will be a celebration of great reading and a chance for the guests to chat about their favourite books while relaxing with a glass of bubbly.

The event will be held at Paper Plus Napier from 6pm. Entry to the VIP night costs $10, and tickets can be purchased from Paper Plus Napier. Along with sumptuous nibbles courtesy of Regal Salmon and a glass of bubbly, there will be goody bags for each guest and the chance to win a fabulous $500 L’Oréal Paris hamper and $100 Regal Salmon prize. Audience members will be able to make a donation to Cure Kids if they wish.

Kerre is a well-known presence on television, on the Paper Plus website and in stores. Each month she announces and reviews her preferred latest books in Kerre’s Choices, and shares her thoughts in the Paper Plus Book Club online discussion forum. The Paper Plus Book Club gives readers the opportunity to review books they love, add comments to other reviews and receive special book offers.

ends

For more information please contact:

Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5545
+64 (0)27 232 0009
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Lyle Hastings
Group Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
+64 (0)9 261 0702
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz

About Paper Plus

The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is New Zealand’s largest stationery and bookseller. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 104 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.

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Kerre and I discuss two new action thrillers which, despite both centering on missing children being searched for by their loved ones, are remarkably unalike.

Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay

Fear the Worst, by Canadian humorist and novelist Linwood Barclay (a guest at Masterton Paper Plus on 28 July as part of his world book tour), is the story of Tim Blake, a second-hand car salesman in a small Massachusetts town whose relationship with his 17-year-old daughter Sydney has been tense since his divorce from her mother. Sydney comes to stay with Tim for the summer while she works at a local motel; one night, when she doesn’t show for dinner, Tim goes to the motel in search of her and is told that she never worked there.

This discovery kicks off the action, and it’s a good, straight-ahead, competently-told story from there, complete with a stinging plot twist. Unlike in many missing-person stories, the author never tries to convince you that the person in question is actually dead – rather, the suspense lies in finding out who, other than Tim, is looking for Sydney (and it sure ain’t the cops; a hallmark of this genre is that the chief investigating officer is either corrupt, sidetracked by innumerable personal issues (usually manifesting in an excessive fondness for Jack Daniel’s) or, as in the case of our next book, hopelessly in love with the mother of the vanished child).

The Last Child by John Hart                                                                                      The Last Child is the third novel from former attorney John Hart. Set in Hart’s home state of North Carolina, where he still lives, the novel opens one year after Alyssa Merrimon, the twin sister of our 13-year-old protagonist Johnny, vanished without a trace from their rural community. Hart said he wanted to tell a story about the worst thing he felt could befall a child – the loss of their family – and by Jove, he’s done it. Shortly after Alyssa’s disappearance, their father takes off, and their mother quickly Katherine falls into pills, booze, and the clutches of a particularly villainous boyfriend.

The lead detective, Clyde Hunt, has family problems of his own and, as mentioned, an inappropriate passion for Katherine, so he’s not much good to anyone. In any case, Johnny is the only person who retains faith that Alyssa is alive, and he sets out, with his troubled friend Jack, to find her. To say more would be to say too much, but readers who know this genre well should beware of trying to out-think the writer – he controls the pace and won’t show you anything until he’s good and ready. It put me in mind of the Mississippi River – straights and sharp curves, rapids and shallows – and I could almost feel the sinister humidity of summer in a bad small town in the American South.

Linwood Barclay has been compared to Jodi Picoult because of his penchant for telling ghastly stories involving children, while John Hart’s publishers have likened their golden boy (all three of his novels, including this new one, have hit the New York Times’ bestseller list) to John Grisham, due to both men being Southern lawyers-turned novelists. The latter is an erroneous comparison; The Last Child has nothing in common with the law-focused Grisham novels I have read (most recently, The Associate, in the 10 May 2009 blog entry). Hart is more skilled in his use of language and creation of character, while Grisham is better at the whiz-bang plot that translates so well to the big screen.

Paper Plus books spokesperson Kerre Woodham is visiting Queenstown on Friday 19 June to chat about her favourite reads. Irene (Spud) Godsall from Paper Plus Queenstown invites the community to attend the evening event and enjoy a glass of bubbly while talking with Kerre about favourite books.

Guests will also enjoy a special appearance by Suzanne Paul, famous in New Zealand for the phrase “But Wait There’s More!” which is also the title of her new autobiography. Suzanne says “I’ve been to hell and back and twice round the roundabout, and I know how to go from rags to riches. I also know that if you can dream it, you can live it.” In her book, Suzanne discusses her childhood, her difficult teenage years, her heartaches and triumphs, all with her unique humour and honesty, in the hope that it will inspire and encourage others facing their own battles.

In addition to being a bookworm Kerre is a writer, having published last year’s bestselling Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner, a characteristically witty and candid account of how she worked her way to fitness and completed both the Auckland and New York Marathons – all after inauspiciously turning up to her very first training session with a hangover.

Irene says the evening will be a celebration of great reading and a chance for the guests to chat about their favourite books while relaxing with a glass of bubbly.

The event will be held at Queenstown’s Prime Restaurant from 6.00pm. Entry to the VIP night costs $20, and tickets can be purchased from the Paper Plus Queenstown and Cromwell stores. Along with sumptuous nibbles, and a glass of bubbles, there will be goody bags for each guest, and a fabulous hamper to be won courtesy of L’Oréal Paris.

Kerre is a well-known presence on the TV with Kerre’s Book Choices, the Paper Plus website and in stores, each month announcing and reviewing her preferred latest books in Kerre’s Choices, and sharing her thoughts in the Paper Plus Book Club online discussion forum. The Paper Plus Book Club gives readers the opportunity to review books they love, add comments to other reviews and receive special book offers.

ends
About Paper Plus
The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is one of New Zealand’s largest stationery and booksellers. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 104 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.

For more information please contact:

Lyle Hastings
Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
 +64 (0)9 261 0702 
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz
 Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
 +64 (0)9 522 5545 
 +64 (0)27 232 0009 
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Since 2008, Paper Plus has held a series of successful Books & Bubbles events across New Zealand.  Alexander Communications have assisted Paper Plus in bringing these events to life, together with the marketing team, since the very beginning.

Paper Plus Books spokesperson, Kerre Woodham features as host in these events with (usually) one to two guest authors. This year, Alexander Communications was briefed to take these events to the next level with five high profile ‘metro’ events in the main centres.

Tarts for Tea was the first of the five metro events, held on Mother’s Day, Sunday 10th May 09 at SKYCITY. Proceeds from each event went to Cure Kids, Paper Plus’ chosen charity.

Kerre Woodham had the entire venue in stitches of laughter with her witty, but highly appropriate sense of humour. The marketing team headed up by Lyle Hastings have enjoyed an excellent relationship with Kerre Woodham. Kerre has a natural affinity for books. She throws herself  at the task of being the advocate of  good reading on behalf of Paper Plus. Kerre interviews Stephanie Jones from Alexander Communications on Newstalk ZB “Kerre’s Cafe” every three week on her favourite pics too.

High profile authors Mary Lambie, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Suzanne Paul and Wendyl Nissen were invited to take part in the event as guest panelists and to promote their books.

Alexander Communications distributed a media release together with a box of tarts to mainstream and local media, inviting them to attend the event to which we had a positive response. New Zealand Woman’s Weekly featured the event with five double passes to giveaway on their website. Denise, Suzanne and Wendyl were each interviewed by Kerre Woodham on NewsTalk ZB and Mary by Mel Homer on EasyMix. The event was also featured online on eventfinder.co.nz, classichits.co.nz, thebreeze.co.nz and coastfm.co.nz, Scoop, Voxy and InfoNews.

Ticket sales went extremely well with the event becoming a sell out and having to turn away people, and the online ticket purchasing website shut down. More than 500 guests filled the room and had a roaring good time as each author and Kerre spoke about their books. Each guest was treated to a goody bag including a full size product from key sponsor L’Oréal Paris. Prizes included a $500 pamper pack from L’Oréal Paris, a ‘Mother Daughter’ necklace from Pascoes and a hamper from Dulcie May Kitchen.

A Prime News reporter attended the event to film the guest speakers and featured a segment on the Sunday 10th May news at 5.30pm.

Many of the guests on the day indicated that they would definately attend another event. Watch this Space!

This Mother’s Day, there is an irreverent alternative to the usual card-flowers-chocolate triumvirate that is typically showered on the nation’s mums. The Paper Plus Group is holding the ‘Tarts for Tea’ event at SKYCITY on Sunday 10 May, featuring a panel of high-profile women who will join host Kerre Woodham in providing an unforgettable afternoon of entertainment for mothers and daughters.

The stellar line-up includes businesswoman Suzanne Paul, journalist and broadcaster Wendyl Nissen, fashion designer Denise L’Estrange-Corbet of the WORLD label, and media veteran Mary Lambie.

“People tend to give and receive the same gifts each Mother’s Day, and this year we wanted to offer something different and special – a unique experience to share and look back on,” said Paper Plus Group Marketing Manager Lyle Hastings. “This will be a great chance for mothers and daughters to spend some quality time together, and of course we welcome sons and dads too.”

The event will be held at SKYCITY for high tea from 1pm. Along with sumptuous cakes, sandwiches and other treats, there will be goody bags for each guest, and a fabulous hamper to be won courtesy of L’Oréal Paris.

More about the panelists:

Suzanne Paul – famous for the phrase, “But wait, there’s more!” (also the title of her autobiography – says, “I’ve been to hell and back and twice round the roundabout, and I know how to go from rags to riches. I also know that if you can dream it, you can live it.” In her book, Suzanne discusses her childhood, her difficult teenage years, her heartaches and triumphs, all with her unique humour and honesty, in the hope that it will inspire and encourage others facing their own battles.

For more than 25 years, Wendyl Nissen has been at the front of the media pack – first as an eager young journalist, then as the influential editor of a string of high-profile women’s magazines, a television producer and writer, and a popular radio commentator and columnist. Wendyl’s bestseller Bitch and Famous details her magazine career and the juggling act of motherhood and ambition. She is now working on a Domestic Goddess On A Budget guide for Penguin, due for release on 29th May 2009. She loves to talk to audiences about work/life balance for women who were told they can do everything, and are now exhausted.

Denise L’Estrange-Corbet has dealt with depression and family dysfunction in her rise to the top of New Zealand fashion design. In her book All That Glitters, Denise chronicles how she and partner Francis Hooper pooled their life savings of $400 to open the first WORLD store on Auckland’s High Street in 1989. WORLD is now an award-winning label famous for its innovation, irreverence and individualism. There are stores in Auckland, Wellington and Sydney, and WORLD has held shows in Paris, Hong Kong, London and Australia.

Mary Lambie has worked in the media for 18 years and is best known for her role as the former host of TV One’s Good Morning show. Mary’s first taste of working in media was as a trainee journalist for Hamilton’s 1ZH and her career has seen her take on many exciting positions from a three year stint in Japan as Radio New Zealand’s Tokyo correspondent, while teaching English, to host of BBC World Service Business Programme on her return to New Zealand. Mary is now also in small business (and has been for the past 20 months) and owns a Subway franchise, employing 15 people. Her book 101 Quick Tips for Surviving The Kids, co-written with Debbie Mayo-Smith, draws on the pairs experience providing a practical little book that is a goldmine of solutions for busy parents.

ends

About Paper Plus
The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is one of New Zealand’s largest stationery and booksellers. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 104 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.
For more information please contact:

Lyle Hastings
Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
+64 (0)9 261 0702
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz
 Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5545
+64 (0)27 232 0009
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Kerre and I discuss a debut novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, and the second novel in Stieg Larsson’s extraordinary Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

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