New Zealand's booksellers celebrated the sixth annual NZ Bookshop Day Saturday with a range of events, competitions and activities, and the theme "engage your senses." Here's some highlights of the festivities culled from social media posts:
Dogs at Time Out Bookstore, Auckland: "Kia ora! Don’t forget tomorrow is #nzbookshopday and boy, we've got some goodies for you. The Booksellers NZ Summer Reading Guide, gift bags with giveaways from our wonderful NZ publishers, Katie's cookies and staff costumes. Come and say hi!"
Unity Books, Wellington: "Election Day is NZ Bookshop Day! Visit our store... and vote for your favorite of our bestselling books of the year from Aotearoa. One lucky voter will win all six books!"
Marsden Books, Wellington: "It's NZ Bookshop Day. COME AND VOTE FOR BOOKS. Come and celebrate this special day with us and let the kids exercise their democratic right to vote for their favorite NZ author.... Every kid can vote for their favorite on our special voting form, write their name on the back, and then everyone who votes goes in the draw to win three books of the author they voted for. Yay!"
Mcleods Booksellers, Rotorua: "Books getting wrapped for our Annual Treasure Hunt for all ages... to celebrate NZ Bookshop Day and all our lovely customers! Pop in... to find one of these books wrapped in brown or yellow paper to take home with you for free!"
Schrödinger's Books, Petone: "Woohoo! Bookshop Day is here! Come and join the fun today.... All book purchases put you in the draw to win a box of goodies, too! See you soon."
Twizel Bookshop, Twizel: "It's happening! Come down to @twizelbookshop for lollies and giveaways! Oh and books, of course!"
Poppies, Hamilton: "It's a beautiful day for NZ Bookshop Day! Pop in and say hi, and pick up a copy of the summer reading guide--it's full of great gift ideas (and books that you'll want for yourself)."
Dorothy Butler Books: "Thanks @hachettenz for our #Nzbookshopday card and goodies. Love the RBG face masks! We're having a great day and we think the visiting kids are too!"
University Bookshop, Otago: "Phew! Thanks to all of you who popped in and showed us the love on #nzbookshopday! There was so much going on, we're only just getting around to posting 2 of our Saturday super stars hiding in the crime section (they don't look very guilty). Thanks to @booksellersnz for creating a chance to celebrate all of Aotearoa's wonderful independent book stores, and all the publishers who help us get the best books in the world to you, our supportive customers. Remember folks, shop local!"
Booksellers NZ: "On our #NZBookshopDay we should also take a moment to think about our colleagues in the USA who are having a much tougher time than we are.... In the US, independent booksellers are taking on the might of Amazon with this amazing #BoxedOut campaign. We've never seen anything like it."