Find out about the benefits of joining the New Zealand Poetry Society here
Deadline for submissions to the NZPS magazine, a fine line: 7 October. Submission guidelines are at: http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/aboutsubmissionguidelines
New Zealand Studies in London
The University of London at Birkbeck has a series of New Zealand events coming up, including readings by NZ poets Jan kemp, Kevin Ireland, Gus Simonovic and CK Stead, in association with the New Zealand Studies Network. Learn more about this extension o f interest in NZ literature at: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/our-research/centres/new-zealand-studies-at-birkbeck and http://www.nzstudies.com/about-us/
Eye to the Telescope features New Zealand and Australian poets
When the Science Fiction Poetry Association asked New Zealand poet, author and anthologist Tim Jones to edit an issue of their online magazine Eye To The Telescope featuring Australian New Zealand speculative poetry, he didn't expect to receive a submission from the singer-songwriter behind 1980s hit song 'Shaddap You Face' - and he didn't expect to like it enough to include it in the issue, now online at http://www.eyetothetelescope.com/
'Shaddap You Face' was an Italian-themed novelty song that was absolutely inescapable in the early 1980s. "All I knew of Joe Dolce was that he wrote that one song," says Jones. "What I didn't know is that he's also a fine poet, with work published in many of Australia's leading literary journals. His poem 'Aliens' makes a great concluding poem for this issue."
Speculative poetry covers poetry that fits within the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres, plus other associated genres like magic realism and surrealism. "It was really tough to choose only 20 poems from the much larger number of poems I'd like to have published," says Jones, "but I'm happy to have included such a range of genres and styles."
The first poem, Helen Rickerby's 'If this is the future....', uses science fiction as a beautifully delicate metaphor, but there's also such hard-out science fiction poems as Chris Lynch's 'Man in a wingsuit'. There is apocalyptic menace in Grant Stone's 'Bordertown' and Emily Manger's 'A whimper after the bang', in contrast to the wry humour of Laurice Gilbert's 'Extermiknit'.
"One of the things I'm most pleased about is that this issue brings together well-regarded poets, like Janis Freegard, Stephen Oliver and David Reiter, with authors best known for their fiction, like Mary Victoria and Peter Friend, both of whom contributed poems on fantasy themes, and Spanish-domiciled Australian writer Rod Usher," Jones commented. "There's surrealism, a sonnet, and one dialect poem that reminds me of Russell Hoban's great novel Riddley Walker."
Other NZPS members featured in the journal are Catherine Fitchett and Sandi Sartorelli.Takahe 72 is on the bookstore shelves
This issue includes work by NZPS members: Jan Vernon, Ruth Arnison, Harvey Molloy and Marion Jones.
Caselberg Trust Poetry Prize: Winners Announced
The winners of the Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize for 2011 have been announced. The competition was judged by distinguished poet Bernadette Hall, who awarded the first prize of $500 to 'After Reading Auden' by Mary McCallum, of Eastbourne, while second prize of $250 went to 'Home to you', by Michele Amas, of Wellington. A further five entries rated Highly Commended came from Lee Posna and Natasha Dennerstein (both of Wellington), Victoria O'Sullivan (Waitakere City), Therese Lloyd (Wellington), and Maris O'Rourke (Auckland). Both winning poems will be published in May in Landfall 221; while the five runners-up, along with the two winning entries, will be published on the Caselberg Trust website during May. The competition attracted 237 entries from poets around New Zealand and in several overseas countries.
New Online Poetry Reading Group (UK)
Intended to attract a whole new audience of poetry lovers, this new online poetry reading group is free and open to everyone. Join by registering at the site: http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/news/79/new_online_poetry_reading_group_january_2011_choices/
Announcing the Winner of the 2010 Takahe Poetry Competition
The Takahe Editorial Committee and Takahe Collective are pleased to announce that the winner of its 2010 Poetry Competition judged by writer and editor James Norcliffe is Dunedin poet and fiction writer, Sue Wootton for her poem 'Haunted'. Wootton wins $250 for her poem.
Sue Wootton is the author of two collections of poetry: Hourglass (Steele Roberts, 2005) and Magnetic South (Steele Roberts, 2008). In 2008 she held the Robert Burns Fellowship. Last year, she read at International Festival of Poetry in Granada, Nicaragua.
2010 Takahe Poetry Competition's second-place and winner of $100 goes to Tusiata Avia for her poem, 'Wairua Rd'.
Sue Wootton was also awarded one of the two runners-up prizes, a year's subscription to the magazine, for her poem 'Hatch'. The other runner-up was Aleksandra Lane, for her poem 'The Economist.
The 2010 Takahe Poetry Competition attracted over 400 entries. The Judge's report and Sue Wootton's winning entry can be read in the current issue of the magazine, Takahe 71 which was released just before Christmas.
Bravado is no more
With the issue of Bravado 20, this valuable and much-loved journal has drawn to a close. The NZ Poetry Society thanks the Bravado Editorial Collective for its exemplary work, sometimes in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Now it's met one obstacle too many, and we are desperately sorry to see it go.
Autumn 2011 Residency at the Michael King Writers' Centre, Auckland, awarded to former President of the NZ Poetry Society
The Residency has been awarded to Wellington author Nelson Wattie, for a literary biography of Kapiti poet, novelist and playwright Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, a former Patron of the NZPS.
Dr Wattie is an author, translator, academic and opera singer from Wellington, who taught in German universities for many years and has written extensively about aspects of New Zealand literature. He was a fellow at the Stout Research Centre in Wellington in 1989-90.
His project is a major literary biography of Alistair Te Ariki Campbell (1929-2009), based on interviews with the poet and other personal documents, including his diaries over 40 years. Campbell was a major New Zealand literary figure, whose work explores both his European and Cook Island heritage.
The residency, offered with support from Creative New Zealand, is for eight weeks, and includes free accommodation and working space at the Michael King Writers' Centre in Devonport, along with an $8,000 stipend.
Christchurch creative writing teacher wins Storylines award
The founder of the Christchurch School for Young Writers, Dr Glyn Strange, is the winner of the 2010 Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for outstanding service to the development of literature and literacy in New Zealand children. Dr Strange began the not-for-profit school in 1993, originally as a regional enterprise but now very much a national institution.
'Using mostly online communication, the School for Young Writers offers mentoring, publication opportunities, competitions and workshops to help young writers from all over the country to explore all aspects of creative writing,' says Storylines Trust chairperson Dr Libby Limbrick.
'Undoubtedly, the many thousands who have passed through the school have been given a solid grounding in writing prose and poetry which will benefit their adult careers in whatever field.'
The school's twice-yearly magazine Write-On for writers aged eight to 18 and the annual anthology of poetry and prose, Re-draft (now in its tenth year), together offer students regular opportunities to see their work published and appreciated by a wide audience.
After completing a doctorate in English, Dr Strange worked in academic and personnel fields. As well as guiding the development of the School for Young Writers, he has published four books.
The award, honouring the author and educator Betty Gilderdale, was instituted by Storylines in 2000 to acknowledge long-standing service in the wide field of children's books and literacy. Previous recipients have included authors Jean Bennett and Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira, and literary agent Ray Richards.
A public presentation function is being held by the Storylines Trust in Auckland on Wednesday 10 November, 2010. (NZSA Newsletter)
The School for young Writers generously supports the NZ Poetry Society's annual International Poetry Competition, compiling entries from many state schools in the Canterbury region and beyond.
Professor William Manhire, FRSNZ
The NZ Poetry Society congratulates Bill Manhire on being one of 12 top pure and applied science and humanities researchers to be elected as Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The press release announcing this new honour describes Professor William Manhire of the International Institute of Modern Letters as "an internationally distinguished poet, essayist and writer of short fiction", adding that "His critical, teaching and entrepreneurial skills have made him the foremost figure in developing New Zealand writing". Bill's newly elected colleagues include experts in statistical models, algorithmic information theory, volcanic ash and rhizobium-legume symbiosis. As Ken Duncum put it in his congratulatory message - "in amongst the algae and the algorithms Creative Writing sedately waves its fronds." (International Institute of Modern Letters Newslaetter)
Chris Price wins New Zealand Post Mansfield Literary Prize for 2011
This residency programme enables a New Zealand writer to work at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton, France, where famed writer Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote in 1919 and 1920. The $80,000 Prize covers return travel to France and living and accommodation expenses.
Ms Price is the fourth winner since New Zealand Post became the principal partner with the Katherine Mansfield Menton Trust in 2007. Her works include poetry collections Husk, for which she received a best first book award, and The Blind Singer. She also produced Brief Lives, a hybrid work that was shortlisted for the then Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2007. Ms Price teaches at Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters and currently co-convenes the Institute's Master of Arts in Creative Writing.
Ms Price says it's not every day one gets a phone call that will change your life.
"This is the best kind of challenge for a writer. Katherine Mansfield once wrote ‘Oh, to be a writer. A real writer given up to it and to it alone'.
"This Prize permits me to do the very thing that Mansfield most wanted to do - I feel I owe it to her to succeed," Ms Price said.
While in Menton she intends to research and complete a creative non-fiction manuscript that will use elements of biography, essay and travel writing to explore the life and early death of the eccentric English poet and anatomist Thomas Lovell Beddoes. Ms Price will also work on a poetry collection.
New Zealand Post Chairman Rt Hon Jim Bolger said Ms Price was a worthy recipient of the Prize.
"We are very pleased that Chris Price is the latest in a long and distinguished line of New Zealand writers to be awarded the New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize. We keenly anticipate the work that will flow from her time in Menton," Mr Bolger said.
Gordon Stewart, Chair of the selection panel, said Ms Price was chosen from a high quality field of candidates.
"There were a number of strong competitors from different genres. We were particularly excited by her proposed project for her time in Menton and we're sure she'll be a worthy 42nd recipient of the fellowship," Mr Stewart said.
The New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize has supported many authors over the years, including Janet Frame, Witi Ihimaera, Vincent O'Sullivan and Dame Fiona Kidman. Last year's Prize winner, Ken Duncum, is about to finish his time in Menton.
The Prize celebrates New Zealand heritage and writing and complements New Zealand Post's literary and literacy based programmes, including Books in Homes, Children's Book Awards, Literacy Aotearoa and, for the first time this year, the New Zealand Post Book Awards.
The New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize is offered in conjunction with the Winn-Manson Menton Trust and administered by Creative New Zealand.
Award
Mirabile Dictu, a collection of poems by inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate Michele Leggott, published by Auckland University Press, was announced as the Best Non-illustrated Book at the 2010 PANZ Book Design Awards. You can read Liz Breslin's review of Mirabile Dictu at: http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/files/Mirabile dictu review.pdf
A Call to Small Press Publishers of Poetry in New Zealand
David Howard (Black Doris Press) and Roger Hickin (Cold Hub Press) are partnering with the American publisher Zephyr Press to present a table of New Zealand poetry at the 2011 Annual Conference and Bookfair of the US Association of Writers and Writing Programs. British poet and publisher Peter Riley once observed:
"When it comes to poetry the [small press] category becomes illusory. The so-called big publishers produce poetry books in very small editions, sometimes below 1,000. The notion that some achievement in terms of public recognition is made when a poet is taken on by one of these bigger presses is sadly mistaken: they are run on personal taste and zone-preference like the rest. For the most part the only really commercial poetry publishing concerns poets laureate, Nobel prize winners, and some popular entertainers." [Small Press Poetry Catalogue 1, 1996]
What Riley said of Britain applies, minus the Nobel prize winners, to New Zealand. Still the university presses who creditably publish poetry here do have more marketing resources than their independent counterparts. So, with all due respect, this call is not for university presses; rather it is for publishers in the margins whose commitment to poetry deserves wider exposure. David and Roger invite approaches from small press publishers of poetry who would like their titles to be represented at the AWP Conference in Washington DC, February 2-5 2011.
This is an attractive way to display your broadsheets, chapbooks, and full-length collections prominently alongside offerings from the likes of Copper Canyon Press and W.W. Norton & Company. Representatives from The New York Times and Granta will be at AWP 2011. So will agents, editors, and distributors. Small New Zealand publishers such as Gumtree Press and Seraph Press are already involved.
If you would like your publications to be showcased then email David Howard: davidhoward@xtra.co.nz. (New Zealand book Council Newsletter #17)
Tuesday Poems
Novelist Mary McCallum has been doing her bit for poetry in the blogosphere. The Tuesday Poem is an initiative that creates a kind of open-mike session in cyberspace each Tuesday morning. Poets post poems first thing in the morning (or last thing Monday night) then link to each other and ‘pop in and out of each other's poems all day', as Mary describes it, as well as being visited by other readers. Mary's inviting other poets to join in: visit the blog at www.tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com to find out how.
Poetry Posters
"The only thing that can save the world is reclaiming the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does." Allen Ginsberg.
Giving poetry the street visibility of punk and rock and roll, Phantom Billstickers launched a new series of poem posters in late April 2010. Placing poems on the walls of cities across New Zealand, the United States and towns and cities everywhere, the intent is to bring poetry to the attention of the world. This is Phantom Billstickers' fourth run of Poem Posters
An interesting mix of Kiwi and American poets is featured. From Aotearoa (New Zealand): Chris Knox, well known Kiwi musician, song writer and Beat Mystic; Bill Manhire, New Zealand's Man of Letters and five-times winner of the New Zealand Book Awards Poetry Prize; Tusiata Avia, Pacifika performance poet and current Ursula Bethel Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch; Stephen Oliver, poet and voice artist, author of fifteen volumes of poetry; Cilla McQueen, poet and artist, three-time winner of the New Zealand Book Award for poetry and current New Zealand Poet Laureate; Mariana Isara, winner of the Heritage Christchurch summer poets competition.
From the USA: Robert Creeley, Black Mountain poet of the Charles Olson school and guardian of innovative poets and poetics everywhere; Gerald Stern, Poet Laureate of New Jersey, recipient of the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, US National Book Award winner for poetry and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets; Michael Palma, poet and translator of Dante's 'Inferno'; Roy Smith, vital unpublished poet from New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Jim Wilson, the founder of Phantom Billstickers, New Zealand's poster company, is a keen advocate and committed supporter of poetry and the arts. Jim's aim is to take Kiwi arts to the world. He has worked to post streets and cafe walls with poem posters in places like Baltimore, Knoxville and Nashville, through to Seattle and Portland. At least a dozen other American cities are also involved, from Mississippi State to New York City. Recently volunteers have been enlisted to place poem posters in Boulder and Iowa City (close to the Iowa Writers' Workshop which is arguably the top writers' workshop in the States). The city of Berlin, Germany, is also to be added to the list of destinations to feel the heat, passion and beauty of poem posters on its walls.
New Zealand, one of the poetry and music hearts of the world, first saw Phantom Billstickers' poem posters in June 2009. Cities and towns throughout the country enjoy a damn good pasting of poem posters and as Kiwi poet Stephen Oliver puts it: "Poem posters are part of the dress code of any city that recommends itself to its citizens."
In the previous three rounds of Poetry Posters the poets featured have included Janet Frame, Geoff Cochrane, Campbell McKay, Brian Turner, Jackie Steincamp, Bill Direen, Michele Leggott, Sam Hunt, Gary McCormick, Hilaire Campbell, Jeffery McCaleb, Ben Brown, Michael White, Nicholas Thomas, Tusiata Avia, Pablo Nova, Robert Pinsky, Marcie Sims, Joe Treceno, Lawrence Arabia, Josie McQuail, Jay Clarkson and Sandra Bell.
At the April 28th Launch some of the Phantom Billstickers poets will read and the event will be hosted by celebrated poet and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate Michele Leggott. The evening will also feature LOUNGE#13 which is an exciting project run by the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre & the English Department at the University of Auckland. Local poets reading include: Ben Daniels, Martin Edmond, Paula Green, Greg Zan, Zarah Butcher McGunnigle, Sacha Norrie, Jack Ross and Sonja Yelich.
Printing poems on posters is largely about hope. In a world of splitting opinions, extreme violence and never-ending political and commercial intrigue, the aim is to bring Truth and Beauty back into the streets. These posters and in fact all posters are 'Flora for the Concrete Jungle'. The wish is that people participate in and celebrate the creativity of language. The aim is to be inspirational and uplifting; the presence of poems in our cities is about reclaiming the world through art. You can read about the poetry project at: www.0800phantom.co.nz
The Cuba Street Garret, Wellington
The Cuba Street Garret is a combination of solitude and community for the toner-stained wretches we know as writers. We have transformed a flat on Cuba Street, outfitting it with offices so that writers can move in and get to work. Heat, Internet, and cleaning services are provided, of course. This workspace is called The Cuba Street Garret because Cuba Street is where it's located, and 'Garret' since there are few writers who can even afford a garret these days, but this would perhaps make that dream possible for several of them.
Costs are, naturally, a primary concern for everyone, so the rent is currently only $80 per week; it could well be less than that once the fourteen (14) offices are filled. And there are no lengthy leases. Writers will never be asked to commit to more than one month at a time. The success of The Cuba Street Garret will come from the positive atmosphere therein. Members of The Garret meet for lunch once a month.
Further Information: Located in the Watkins Building (corner of Cuba and Vivian Streets), The Cuba Street Garret has a progenitor of a sort back in San Francisco, The Sanchez Grotto Annex http://www.sanchezannex.com if anyone wants to see how a writers' workspace works. Those offices now have a waiting list, and we expect to have the same level of participation in Wellington.
Writers who wish to learn more or visit The Garret should contact Travis Cottreau: travis.cottreau(at)gmail.com
Dame Fiona honoured by France
Heartiest congratulations to our Patron Dame Fiona Kidman who was recently awarded France's prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Chevalier rank. She joins an impressive list of those honoured for their having "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance." For more about this award, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordre_des_Arts_et_des_Lettres 1000 New Zealand classics released as eBooks
New Zealanders can now freely download - and store in their pockets - hundreds of our most well-known books, courtesy of Victoria University's New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC). More than 1000 New Zealand electronic books (eBooks) are now available for download on the NZETC website at http://www.nzetc.org, giving people easy access to some of the great works in New Zealand literature including Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party and Other Stories, Bill Pearson's Coal Flat, and Robin Hyde's The Godwits Fly.
Although New Zealand does not yet share the same choice of eBook device hardware as available overseas, devices sold locally such as Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch make the reading of eBooks a simple and portable experience. The New Zealand eBooks, made available using the major emerging ePub standard, represent many of the texts already accessible for online browsing on the NZETC website, and are suited to viewing on modern eBook devices such as the iPhone, Sony Reader, and IRex ILiad.
The ePub standard is an open standard supported by many major publishers and hardware vendors, with many of the major online bookstores making titles available for purchase in this format. Waterstones bookstore, one of the largest chains in the United Kingdom, offers more than 12,000 titles exclusively in the ePub format, while Sony has stated its intention to sell only books in the ePub format by the end of this year.
Some of the major titles released this week by the NZETC include:
• The Life of Captain James Cook, by J. C. Beaglehole (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Bea04Cook.html)
• The Garden Party and Other Stories, by Katherine Mansfield (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-ManGard.html)
• Coal Flat, by Bill Pearson (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-PeaCoal.html)
• The Godwits Fly, by Robin Hyde (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-HydGodw.html)
• We Will Not Cease, by Archibald Baxter (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BaxWeWi.html)
• Infantry Brigadier, by Howard Karl Kippenberger (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-KipInfa.html)
• Tutira, by William Guthrie Smith (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-GutTuti.html)
• My Life, by Jean Batten (http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BatMyL.html)
The NZETC is a free online archive of New Zealand and Pacific texts and heritage materials, based at Victoria University. It offers an ever expanding, fully searchable, set of images and full-text books, manuscripts and journals. The NZETC collaborates with organisations interested in digitising their collections and making digital content available online, providing expertise and technical assistance, and is interested in projects aiming to make content more widely available to a New Zealand audience through the use of open standards.
One can only wait with bated breath to see if poetry texts are to be included.
New Poet Laureate for New Zealand
Bluff poet Cilla McQueen is New Zealand's second Poet Laureate, taking over from Michele Leggott. Details at: http://authors.org.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=40048&idDetails=19673
Poems in the Waiting Room, Dunedin
Ruth Arnison of Otago has successfully established a local Poems in the Waiting Room scheme, under licence and start-up grant from Poems in the Waiting Room UK. The initial summer print run in November/December 2008 was 500 cards; there were 1000 for autumn and she's looking at 2000 cards for the winter edition. The poetry cards combine classic poems, including many from UK PitWR earlier editions, with new work by New Zealand poets. They have been welcomed by Dunedin medical practitioners and rest homes, and supplies have quickly run out in a number of surgeries. Armed with the local licence, Ruth is now looking forward to expanding the project to cover more of NZ. Contact Ruth Arnison arnison@xnet.co.nz You can follow the progress of the project at http://www.pitwrnz.blogspot.com/
Radio Interview - National Coordinator
Laurice Gilbert, NZPS National Coordinator and current President, was interviewed by Eva Radich on Radio New Zealand's 'Upbeat' programme, on Wednesday 23rd April. Go to: http://www.fluctu8.com/media/8392/36590/ and scroll down to the Upbeat box. It's just over 20 minutes long, so allow plenty of listening time.
Humour in poetry
A wee Scottish poetry joke currently doing the rounds on the Internet (with many thanks to the IIML for sharing it):
Tony Blair is visiting an Edinburgh hospital. He enters a ward full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or illness and greets one. The patient replies:
Fair fa your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin race,
Aboon them a ye take yer place,
Painch, tripe or thairm,
As langs my airm.
Blair is confused, so he just grins and moves on to the next patient. The patient responds:
Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat an we can eat,
So let the Lord be thankit.
Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the PM moves on to the next
patient, who immediately begins to chant:
Wee sleekit, cowerin, timorous beasty,
O the panic in thy breasty,
Thou needna start awa sae hastie,
Wi bickering brattle
Now seriously troubled, Blair turns to the accompanying doctor and asks, ‘Is this a psychiatric ward?'
‘No,' replies the doctor, ‘this is the serious Burns unit.'
