Buy a book for Bougainville
Author Lloyd Jones wants to build a “house of stories” in Bougainville
The man who wrote staple Kiwi-reading The Book of Fame and Mister Pip is fundraising for a library in Bougainville – the Papua New Guinea island where the latter novel is set. Jones first heard of Bougainville in 1990 when he read that Papua New Guinea was to impose a blockade on the island.
“During the 1990s a civil war on the island resulted in between 10,000-15,000 deaths. The cultural centre in Kieta was destroyed, the library burned down some time after,” says Jones.
Last year he started the Bougainville Library Trust. “
Since the conflict there’s been very little investment in the place, and any aid usually focuses on the infrastructural stuff. There’s no real investment in the cultural development of the place,” he says. “That’s where I come in.”
The library is a co-venture between the Bougainville Library Trust, Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) and the Bougainville Heritage Foundation.
“The library won’t just house books, it will celebrate story, it’s a bigger thing than a library, it’s more a house of stories and will cost between $300 000-$350 000.”
New and near-new books donated by New Zealand and Australian publishers and local booksellers will be sold at a fundraising book fair over the weekend.
“We just want people to roll up. There are some terrific books for sale,” says Jones.
Bougainville Library Trust Book Fair, 10am-4pm, Portrait Gallery, Shed 11, November 6-7.
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