Searching for the Great Kiwi Yarn
HarperCollins Publishers NZ is searching for The Great Kiwi Yarn, and would like to give you the opportunity to invite
your listeners, viewers and readers nationwide to contribute.
Radio host Martin Crump, son of one of our leading storytellers, the late Barry Crump, is conducting an on air and
website search for the best yarns, jokes, family stories and tall tales, which will be published in a book by
HarperCollins next year.
HarperCollins Commissioning Editor Lorain Day says 'New Zealanders are in danger of losing the art of good yarn telling
in this era of the internet joke. After all, half the skill and humour in a good yarn is in the telling and the ever so
gentle stretching of the truth. You should never let the facts get in the way of a good story."
Search for The Great Kiwi Yarn will be a book of humorous stories with a distinctive Kiwi flavour, both true and
definitely not true, to be compiled through Radio Pacific. Spinning a good yarn is a time-honoured tradition in this
country, and we've all heard some great ones. They used to be the favourite of the smoko room, the pub and the family
gathering, the social occasions that bound us together as a community. We all know the sort of thing – stories about the
larrikin, the local colourful identity, the tall tales and the fact is stranger than fiction true life tales of the
absurd and the barely believable.
We would be delighted if you could tell your listeners, viewers and readers about this opportunity for their yarns to be
published and the best story will receive $500 worth of HarperCollins books. Entries close on the 31 December. The
address for yarns to be sent to is:
Great Kiwi Yarns HarperCollins PO Box 1 Auckland
ENDS