Christchurch ghosts: shaken but not stirred
A presentation by Dr Simon Pollard about what the Canterbury earthquakes did to our historic cemeteries.
The Canterbury Earthquakes devasted the lives of people living in Canterbury, but it also rattled the residents of our historic cemeteries, who contributed to the history of our region.
Hear Simon Pollard talk about the impact the earthquakes had on the memorials built to remember those residents and what has been done to bring their histories back to life.
While he is a spider biologist, his passion is photographing biology and mortality as demonstrated in the way we remember the dead.
About the speaker
Simon is a spider biologist and award-winning natural history photographer and writer. He has written and illustrated a number of children's books in New Zealand and the United States and has twice won the LIANZA Elsie Locke non-fiction book of the year. In 2017 his book for Te Papa Press, The Genius of Bugs, was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. His second book for Te Papa Press, Why is that Lake so Blue - A Children's Guide to New Zealand's Natural World was selected as a Storylines Notable Book for 2019.
Simon has also been an advisor, scriptwriter, and presenter on a number of natural history documentaries, including the BBC's Planet Earth and The Hunt. In 2007 he was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientists' Science Communicator of the Year Award. Since 2009, Simon has been Adjunct Professor of Science Communication at the University of Canterbury and contributes to a number of science and history outreach programmes. In 2016 he was the external science advisor to Te Papa and Weta Workshop on the $5 million exhibition Bug Lab.
Simon's third book for Te Papa Press, Why is that Spider Dancing? Aotearoa's Amazing Arachnids came out in October 2021. It was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and a Storylines Notable Book for 2022. He has just finished The Little Book of Spiders which is part of a new series with UniPress Books in the UK and Princeton University Press in the US and will have an international release in 2024.
Max 50 attendees: Pre-booking recommended.
The Canterbury Earthquakes devasted the lives of people living in Canterbury, but it also rattled the residents of our historic cemeteries, who contributed to the history of our region.
Hear Simon Pollard talk about the impact the earthquakes had on the memorials built to remember those residents and what has been done to bring their histories back to life.
While he is a spider biologist, his passion is photographing biology and mortality as demonstrated in the way we remember the dead.
About the speaker
Simon is a spider biologist and award-winning natural history photographer and writer. He has written and illustrated a number of children's books in New Zealand and the United States and has twice won the LIANZA Elsie Locke non-fiction book of the year. In 2017 his book for Te Papa Press, The Genius of Bugs, was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. His second book for Te Papa Press, Why is that Lake so Blue - A Children's Guide to New Zealand's Natural World was selected as a Storylines Notable Book for 2019.
Simon has also been an advisor, scriptwriter, and presenter on a number of natural history documentaries, including the BBC's Planet Earth and The Hunt. In 2007 he was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientists' Science Communicator of the Year Award. Since 2009, Simon has been Adjunct Professor of Science Communication at the University of Canterbury and contributes to a number of science and history outreach programmes. In 2016 he was the external science advisor to Te Papa and Weta Workshop on the $5 million exhibition Bug Lab.
Simon's third book for Te Papa Press, Why is that Spider Dancing? Aotearoa's Amazing Arachnids came out in October 2021. It was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and a Storylines Notable Book for 2022. He has just finished The Little Book of Spiders which is part of a new series with UniPress Books in the UK and Princeton University Press in the US and will have an international release in 2024.
Max 50 attendees: Pre-booking recommended.
Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, 83 Clyde Road, Ilam
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