Veritas Aotearoa Publishing for Outpawed

As well as raffle donations from our lovely stallholders, we have also received contributions from generous people outside the Petone Winter Markets stallholder community. We’re thrilled to introduce our first contributor, the fabulous Jo!

“Hi Everyone,
My name is Jo and for the last 17yrs I have been a writer/author. I
think I was always a writer…I write to think…always jotting down
notes, making lists, journaling. My job in any organisation was writing
the newsletters, reports, articles. But 17yrs ago I got serious. I
tried my hand in multiple genres, short stories, poems, reflections,
children’s stories, stories for radio, entering competitions. During
that time, I had short stories, reflections, poems published, a story
included in an anthology and had a children’s book called Talking to
Nanny published through Learning Media.”

‘Talking to Nanny’ was published through Learning Media, and is widely distributed in NZ schools. During 2014 it was translated into Samoan and also NZSL in a digital format. It was followed by ‘The Goodbye Chair’ in 2013. ​​Jo has now had four Children’s Picture Books published.

​Jo Carson-Barr has been writing for children for about five years. Jo has spent many years working with people who are differently-abled, and her hope is to write more books, including different types of people in her stories. Married to Rod, she is the mother of three grown-up children, and grandmother of six..
 
Her passion for children’s picture books was ignited in her Play Centre years were she was fortunate to be the centre’s librarian and could go and spend hours in Dorothy Butler’s book shop….she was hooked, reading endlessly to her own children.

“About three and a half years ago my son and I decided to form a Company called Veritas Aotearoa Publishing now known as VA Publishing. Since then we have published The GoodBye Chair, The Chill Out Chair and Waata the Weta: Can He Find The Perfect Home? and hope to have three other books published by early next year. We are also publishing BIG BOOKS for Kindergartens, ECE centres, and schools. I have now found my niche, writing, publishing and marketing children’s picture books.
Life is exciting.”

​​The books are available to purchase online at
www.veritasaotearoa.co.nz
They are also available throughout the country in some bookshops and gift shops. You can follow VA Publishing on:
www.instagram.com/jocarsonbarr
www.facebook.com/josephinecarsonbarr

​​Jo has kindly donated one of her books, The Chill Out Chair, worth $15, to the Outpawed raffle.

The Chill Out Chair is the second book in a trilogy of Nicholas Stories, the first book being The GoodBye Chair. 
 
In this story Nicholas becomes a little emotional and Aunty Em says ‘Kia Tau Nicholas’. He likes the sound of this, and asks her what it means; she tells him “settle down/chill out”. As Nicholas ponders these words, we join him and his friend the whale, on an adventure saving the baby animals from the sea monster. Nicholas becomes their hero. The story includes Te Reo, and New Zealand Sign Language.

Tickets for the raffle will be available at the August Petone Winter Market, 10.30am to 3pm, 19th August, at the Petone Baptist Church, 38 Buick Street, Petone.
www.facebook.com/PetoneWinterMarkets

​The Petone Winter Markets are the place to buy locally made creations, snack on tasty treats, and fuel up with coffee from Ripe. Drop off the kids at the fully fenced play area while you browse our 30+ indoor stalls and take in the stylings of some local entertainers. There will be all kinds of winter woollies, magpie treasures, tasty treats, and fantastic gift ideas for all! Bring a carry bag – we’re a plastic-bag-free event.

In the weeks leading up to each market, we will be running a gold-coin-entry colouring competition, featuring poster artwork by Cat Drayer from Copper Catkin. Proceeds from the competition will help local charity Outpawed with the care and management of stray and feral cats (and KITTENS) in the Wellington region. The prize is a fantastic play-date with some Outpawed kittens. KITTENS! 

Join us and help brighten these wintery weekends with some family-friendly handmade goodness!
​And did we mention KITTENS?

​Enter our colouring competitions or buy some tasty treats on the day to help raise funds for our chosen cause, Outpawed!

​“Outpawed is a NZ-registered charity dedicated to the care and management of stray and feral cats in the Wellington region. 

We provide shelter for wild cats and kittens, and aim to desex, socialise, vaccinate, microchip and find homes for as many of these cats as possible. We are also involved in trap-neuter-return (TNR) for cats that cannot be integrated into a household environment. Where TNR is necessary, cats are released into managed colonies where they are fed and monitored.

We aim to work with local government and other animal welfare organisations to obtain the best outcome possible for the feral cat population. Our goal is to reduce this population over time through desexing and adoption.“