New Zealand Poetry Society Te Hunga Tito Ruri o Aotearoa
Congratulations
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Phillip Donnell won The Nancy Jervis Prize (£150) in the Café Writers 2009 Poetry Competition with his poem 'Reconciliation'. Nearly 1600 poems were entered in total. Read Phillip's poem at: http://cafewriters.awardspace.com/nancy_jervis_2009.htm
Ginny Sullivan won the Indigo Dreams Press (UK) poetry competition for the second year in a row, with 'Bringing the Bone Carving'. Read it at: http://www.indigodreamsonline.com/#/poetry-comp/4536312528
Vaughan Rapatahana has had a great year as a New Zealand poet based in Hong Kong. He's had poems in: Bravado, Poetry New Zealand, Cha, an Asian literary journal, and Valley Micropress. He was longlisted for the inaugural Proverse Literary Prize, an international competition. Last year he had work published in Takahe, Blackmail Press, and Deep South. Vaughan made the cogent point that "expatriate New Zealand poets - Marvus Turner, Robert Sullivan et al - are doing a damned good job of keeping the runic banner flying offshore". He also has a co-written poetry teaching resource, English Through Poetry (User Friendly Resources), books A to D, available online.
Keith Westwater was awarded first prize of AU$100 in the International Tertiary Student Poetry section of Australia's Bauhinia 2009 Literary Awards with 'The West Winds Gang is back'.
Congratulations to the NZPS members numbered among the winners in this year's Bravado international poetry competition: Laurice Gilbert (Second), David Gregory (Third), Carol Cromie and Nick Williamson achieved Highly Commended, and Carol also won the prize for an unpublished poet. Full results and the judge's report at http://www.bravado.co.nz/images/2009Competitionresults%26comments.pdf
And Bravado's co-ordinating editor Jenny Argante won the Timaru Festival of Roses 2008 Poetry competition with Domestic Jungle. Jenny's poem is online at http://www.bravado.co.nz/images/DomesticJungle.pdf
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle is the featured poet for the current issue of Poetry NZ (number 39). In addition, her poem 'between you and me' was chosen as the Wednesday poem in The Dominion Post on 9th September. Great work, and a talent to watch.
Helen Lowe scooped the prizes she was nominated for in the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, announced at the beginning of June. Her novel Thornspell won Best Book: Young
Adult, while Helen herself won the prize for Best New Talent. The Best Book: young Adult was especially sweet, as the field was a strong one, including in the short list: Margaret Mahy's Magician of Hoad, Fleur Beale's Juno of Taris and Anywhere But Here by Ella West.
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle, Kerrin P Sharpe, and Mary Cresswell have poems in Snorkel 9, the online literary magazine with a special interest in bringing together the creative writings of Australians and New Zealanders.
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle, who brought herself to our attention by having poems selected for our annual anthology, Before the Sirocco, in both open and junior open categories, has had a poem selected for Turbine, the online journal of the International Institute of Modern Letters. Another talented young poet is launched. Other NZPS members with poems included in Turbine are: Johanna Aitchison, Michele Amas, Frankie McMillan, Kathy McVey, Emma Neale, Tim Upperton and Sue Wootton.
Joanna Preston has won the inaugural Kathleen Grattan Award for a collection of poetry. Judge Fleur Adcock chose Joanna Preston's The Summer King. Joanna will receive $16,000 and have her book published by Otago University Press.
Ginny Sullivan won the Indigo Dreams Press (UK) poetry competition in August 2008, with 'The Long Goodbye'. Great going, Ginny - it's good to see New Zealand Poetry Society members making a mark on the international poetry scene.
Laurice Gilbert's poem 'Island Bay', first published in JAAM 26 (ed Tim Jones), was selected as the 'Wednesday Poem' in the Dominion Post, 26 November 2008.
Helen Lowe is taking off in the literary world with her fantasy writing. Read Graham Beattie's interview with her at http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/nz-author-makes-huge-strides-in-us.html This blog is not only influential in NZ, but has 15% of its readership in the US.
Emily Adlam and Pat White were finalists in the Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing. Emily's story 'Five' in the Fiction section, and Pat's work 'The New Dam; Story of an Intervention' in the Non-fiction section.
Sugu Pillay won Second Prize in the Teen Actors Scripts Division of the 2008 Playwrights' Association of New Zealand Competition, for her play 'The Facts'. Andre Surridge achieved Third in the Comedy Division, with 'Waiting for Taniwha'.
Michael Harlow has been awarded the Robert Burns Fellowship for 2009.
Patricia Prime, Auckland, has a group of haiku in Ko, a Japanese journal of haiku in English.
Sue Wootton has a story, 'Virtuoso', in the Zealand Book Council's 2008 edition of Six Pack. The Six Pack Competition was launched in 2005 with the first Six Pack published at the inaugural launch of New Zealand Book Month. Since then The Six Pack (2006) and The Six Pack Two (2007) have spent numerous weeks on the NZ Bestsellers list.
Please share your success stories with us by notifying the National Coordinator.
