So many of you who heard the series on National Radio wrote saying, “Where can I find the book for FGSSMAD?”
It’s on the way, coming up very soon…
Keep an eye here for updates
Regards,
Dinah
Librarian, Bee Trudgeon’s view of Cassidy Abbot’s Book
This is a lovely review by Porirua librarian Bee Trudgeon:
Dinah Priestley and Cassidy Abbot with The Wicked Plum Tree
The newest published author out of Whitby is a teenager named Cassidy Abbot who is no stranger to Porirua Library. He has engaged in writing and story time initiatives with the library since he was little, and can now find his name on the library’s catalogue alongside his grandmother’s, author/artist/actor/historian Dinah Priestley, thanks to a picture book they have created together. The Wicked Plum Tree is dedicated (in part) to ‘those who love trees’, and tells the story of a naughty one. Although the book is threaded through with fantasy, it is partially based on fact.
Continue reading Librarian, Bee Trudgeon’s view of Cassidy Abbot’s Book
Who was the Sheila I knew
Having a dear and companionable friend is what makes life worth living don’t you think? And that’s what Sheila was.
She was a most delightfully unusual person
deeply soaked in that tough Stewart Island background she’d come from. Whalers and sealers who had married into Maori families. People with names like Jacka Lee, Yankee Smith Black Swan, Manuel Gomez and Ned the Nailer.
Both she and Gilbert would say of themselves.” We are Foveaux Strait. A very mixed crew. Down here we think of people by name not by whether they’re Maori or Pakeha.”
I’ve known Sheila since the 1990s when in desperation I asked her to introduce me to Stewart Island families whom she thought I should interview for my radio series Dinkum Purlers. People whose blood was worth bottling.
FGSSMAD Part 3 – Surviving the Gold Coast
For God’s Sake Saddle Me A Donkey
Listen to the audio here on Radio New Zealand: Part 3 – Surviving the Gold Coast
We attempt to earn a little money at Brisbane nightclub with drastic results!
The Book of For God’s Sake Saddle Me a Donkey is coming.
FGSSMAD Part 2 – The Overland Route
For God’s Sake Saddle Me A Donkey
Dinah Priestley tells how, in 1962, two New Zealand couples, each with a small child, decide to convert an ex-army truck into a travelling home, and drive it to England.
Listen to 27 Dec 2016 Part 2- The Overland Route
FGSSMAD Part 1 – Peacocks and Pink Gin
For God’s Sake Saddle Me A Donkey
Listen to the audio here on Radio New Zealand: Part 1 – Peacocks and Pink Gin
Glad so many of you liked For God’s Sake Saddle me a Donkey. I’m currently working on the book illustrated with my cartoons. I’ll let you know when it comes out.
This episode recalls how our small group of travelling New Zealanders came to stay with the Maharaja of Bharatpur.
FOR GOD’S SAKE SADDLE ME A DONKEY
Radio New Zealand, National
Wake up with me, Dinah Priestley, travelling from Wellington to London in an accident-prone WW2 truck called Leviathan. Friends said to us “You are mad! Those toddlers of yours will be dead before you reach London.” But we were lucky.! We survived, with help from peasants and prostitutes, missionaries and maharajahs.
For God’s Sake Saddle Me a Donkey: Radio New Zealand, weekdays 6.45 a.m. from 26th December 2016, to 19th January 2017.
