Emma Neale: #AuthorsForFireys guest blog

This guest blog features Emma Neale, a New Zealand author and editor, who is donating items for the #AuthorsForFireys auction. This fundraiser is for the fire fighting effort here in Australia. The full set of #AuthorsForFireys interviews and blog posts will be here as soon as they are published, as interviews and guest blogs for #AuthorsForWildlife will be here.

Emma Neale says:

I’m a Dunedin-based writer and editor; I currently edit Landfall, New Zealand/Aotearoa’s oldest arts journal.

My auction lot is seven books – all 6 of my novels and my latest poetry collection.

I’m taking part in the auction chiefly because the crisis demands it! But on 1 January here in Dunedin/Ōepoti, the skies were a burnt sepia colour, we could smell the taint of smoke, and it was dark enough at noon for us to need lights on – in the midst of summer. The bushfire crisis links us all.

I have very dear friends in Australia. The Sydney Writers’ Festival has hosted me as a guest writer. I also accepted a writer’s retreat in the Blue Mountains; the latter was crucial to the first draft of my novel Fosterling. Yet even without these points of personal significance, the global impact of these fires would have shaken me.

I’m published by Otago University Press and by Penguin Random House – full author details at the link for my latest novel at PRHNZ and for my latest poetry collection.

Emma Neale’s offer

7 signed books for #AuthorsForFireys. We had burnt sepia skies here in Dunedin/Otepoti on 1 January. The firefighters are working for at least 2 nations. Thanks to @EmilyGale and @NovaWeetman for the prompt. I'm looking forward to seeing & bidding on other items. https://t.co/hk2B6Q8i36 pic.twitter.com/0C6Z2XYbXE

— Emma Neale (@EmEnSpace) January 5, 2020

7 signed books for #AuthorsForFireys. We had burnt sepia skies here in Dunedin/Otepoti on 1 January. The firefighters are working for at least 2 nations. Thanks to @EmilyGale and @NovaWeetman for the prompt. I’m looking forward to seeing & bidding on other items.

Want to know if this is legit?

Yes, it is legit. The whole community — Australian and global — is rallying together to support Australian firefighters, wildlife rescue and bushfire victims. Here are some reports on this effort.

• SBS: Australian authors rally around to raise funds for bushfire relief effort
• SMH: Authors ask readers to dig deep for nation’s bushfire crisis
• Book Riot: AUTHORS SUPPORT AUSTRALIA FIRE SERVICES WITH #AUTHORSFORFIREYS
• Penguin Books: Authors For Fireys — Australian authors band together to support the Country Fire Authority
• Daily Nous: Philosophers Raising Funds for Firefighters in Australia
• ArtsHub: Six ways artists can take action on bushfires

Fundraiser information from Emily Gale

The #AuthorsForFireys auction will take place only on Twitter from Monday 6th January, ending at 11pm AEST on Saturday 11th January. Scores of authors, illustrators and book industry people will host their own individual auction under the hashtag #AuthorsForFireys and bids will take place on each tweet. At the end, the highest bidder will donate the amount directly to the firefighters fund, and the goods/services dispatched once proof of donation has been received.

As originally wanted by @EmilyGale and @NovaWeetman, this fundraiser is now officially for ALL fire services in Australia. The official Authors For Fireys Website will be updated accordingly. Winning bidders or auctioning authors can nominate funds to the fire service of their choice.

Items up for auction include signed books, original illustrations, one-off fan-art and craft, unique gifts and manuscript critiques for writers.

There is a supporting site, explaining how it works, at this address: https://authorsforfireys.wixsite.com/website.