Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Meet the People - 40

Another in the Series Meet the People – Ordinary and Extraordinary New Zealanders Doing Interesting Things – Wellington Journalist, Jane Tolerton is leading a double life. By day she works as a researcher and writer at Te Ara for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage; by night she swaps roles and becomes the hostess at Wellington’s Booklovers B&B, which she established in her gorgeous 1895 home in Mount Victoria in 2001. She was working as a producer on Nine-to-Noon on National Radio back in 1999 when she bought the big double bay villa but that didn’t slow her down. She spent two years ‘doing the house up’ and, with every room stacked full of interesting books, she then opened the doors to welcome national and international guests. Writing is her chief passion and she has five books to her credit – the best known perhaps, her biography on Ettie Rout, which won a New Zealand Book Award in 1993. “Having an idea and seeing it through, seeing it ‘reach’ someone, is very powerful,” says Jane. “I particularly like writing oral history – letting people express themselves and capturing the essence of their lives.
All Photos Ajr April 2009 It’s all about communicating. That’s what drives me. I get those same connections and that same buzz here at the B&B breakfast table when people from all over the world come together.” Jane, who has a double degree in History and American Studies and a Diploma of Journalism, started her career as a proof reader, reporter and sub-editor for the Waikato Times in 1980. Then came her books, a stint of teaching a polytech journalism course and she still manages to fit in a little corporate speech writing. And favourite authors? “Of course, Anthony Trollope, Jane Austen and John Le Carre to name just three.” http://www.booklovers.co.nz/

No comments:

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin