Motorcycle history writer Maureen Bull will be in Dunedin at McIver and Veitch, Crawford St, from 2pm today to talk about the writing and publishing of her "fourth and final'' book.
After five years fitting the production of New Zealand's Motorcycle Heritage, Book Three: 1960s to 2008 around her Masterton Library work and looking after grandchildren, she is touring the country "putting to bed the whole process''.
This is the third book of a historical trilogy that begun in 1981 with the publication of a book chronicling the country's motorbikes from 1899 to 1932. Five years later in 1986, Bull's next installment carried on from 1932 to 1960.
The gap of 23 years before this last chapter could be completed was filled with running an electrical contracting business with her husband Glen, raising their four children and her 22-year role as a district librarian.
Bull deems it a "labour of love'' and to ensure it transpired in exactly the way she and Glen - a fellow motorcycle enthusiast - had envisioned, they set up their own company Masterton Publishing House. This independence allowed them to "put in and take out what they like'' of the 236 pages
detailing bikes and the people that ride them.
Interspersed with notable New Zealand names like Burt munro, John Britten, Aaron Slight and Katherine Prumm, are everyday people talking about their passion for the two-wheeled machines.
Bull (70) says she used her superannuation fund to bankroll the 800 copies. Free from constraints imposed by a publisher she chose "the best quality paper we could afford and lots of colour images.''
Travelling New Zealand was the most fitting way to say "here it is at last and thank you for everything you've done,'' Bull said, of the personalities that have helped fill her pages.
"There's a very ,big South Island content to the book.''
*Maureen Bull will be in Invercargill on Friday from 6pm at Southland Honda on Clyde St and Christchurch on Tuesday, April 7 at Brittco Management on Worcester Street from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.
