Find out about the benefits of joining the New Zealand Poetry Society here
Deadline for submissions to the NZPS magazine, a fine line: 7 August. Submission guidelines are at: http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/aboutsubmissionguidelines
2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards
Janet Charman has won the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards poetry category, for her poetry collection Cold Snack. The West Auckland resident competed against poetry category finalists, A Long Girl Ago by Johanna Aitchison (Victoria University Press) and The Pop-Up Book of Invasions by Fiona Farrell (Auckland University Press) to take the prize.
Poems in the Waiting Room (UK)
PitWR provides free poetry leaflets for patients to read while waiting to see their doctor. Over one thousand NHS waiting rooms are currently served with a circulation of over 20,000 poetry pamphlets each quarter. PitWR provides an exceptional means of getting contemporary poetry known widely. Submissions of suitable poems for publication are welcome as well as suggestions of NHS units who might like to receive the complimentary service. Submission guidelines and copies of the quarterly editions are presented on www.pitwr.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk together with a full description of PitWR arts in health programme.
Whitireia Writing Programme
Whitireia Writing Programme online courses begin 21 July.
This fully online course offers part-time study in several genres:
* Short Fiction with Anna Horsley
* Poetry with Lynn Davidson
* Writing for Children with Julia Wall
* Scriptwriting with Costa Botes
* Nonfiction with Lynn Davidson
For further information contact info@whitireia.ac.nz
www.whitireia.ac.nz Ph Pip Byrne on 0800 944 847
Writing Workshops
Release your inner muse. Christian Stafford (B.A. Eng. Dip Eng Lang. Masters in Creative writing) is holding an 8 week writing course - beginners and experienced writers welcome. Poetry, prose (and possibly script writing) will be covered. Classes held at the Massey Community House, Mondays 7 - 9 P.M. Starting 4th August. For further details telephone 09 833-9220 Fax 09 833-4380
385 Don Buck Road, Massey, Waitakere City. http://www.masseycommunityhouse.co.nz
Indian Writing in English - a new direction for new writers
After five years the online Waiariki Diploma in Creative Writing is a well-established programme for would-be writers. This year it adds something completely different for students newly enrolling on the course. Contemporary Ethnic Writers and Writing already features a Maori component. Now, in recognition of the importance of this important genre, Indian Writers in English will be taught from June 2008. The course was written and developed by experienced creative writing tutor Jenny Argante, herself born in Jhabalpur, India, with input from Lead Tutor Sue Emms, a prizewinning writer of short stories and novels.
Indian Writers in English is a Level 4, 15-credit course that invites students to explore Indian culture through their own ethnic writing over seven weeks. The course is taught fully online through Waiariki's eCampus, and includes tutorials, discussions, research opportunities, exercises, and writing original work. Participants receive useful and direct feedback on work from tutors and from fellow-students.
The main purpose of the Diploma in Creative Writing is to get people started in writing and help them get published. Indian Writers in English will encourage the exploration of the Indian literary tradition and on writing authentically in an 'ethnic voice'. In other words, how to write a story, fictional or fact, that is based on the Indian culture, and to do it with confidence. To find out what it means to be Indian.
An important contribution to such understanding is studying the work of nine famous Indian writers: Rabindranath Tagore, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, V.S. Naipaul and Rohinton Mistry.
Writers write what is known to them; and also what fascinates them as unknown and worth exploring. Good fiction and great literature from all the countries of the world is one of the best means there is to explore other cultures, and other ways of living. Indian Writing in English can play an important part in this.
Diploma in Creative Writing: CWRT.4003 Contemporary Ethnic Writing & Writers: Indian Writing in English
Course Dates: 23 June - 3 August
Enquiries to: Sue Emms semms@gmail.com or ph 07 552 4285
The Pohutukawa Garret, a proposed writers' colony in Wellington
From DougWilkins:
"Our writers' colony will be both a place and a state of mind. The idea is to have a workplace separate from our homes and the distractions therein, and also our intent is to work in a supportive environment, where other writers are nearby, willing to read a paragraph or two, offer ideas, suggest publishers or agents, or just bring back the occasional coffee from the café. We would attempt to meet for lunch at least once a month, as this seems to help, too.
"It's an idea that has already worked very well in San Francisco, where Po Bronson and Ethan Watters started The Writers' Grotto in the 1990s and others followed. I founded The Sanchez Grotto Annex in 2004, and it has produced two bestsellers, a PEN Award, a Lambda Award for gay fiction, and at least six new books from among a group of less than a dozen members. Ours was a collection of eight offices, some shared, for which each writer paid NZ$90 per week - I'm trying to beat down that cost as best I can as I work on founding the writers' colony here.
"So it is with all this in mind that I am actively seeking to find a property where this can all take place. I've been looking along Cuba Street, but would be open to suggestion as to where else to locate the writers' colony. I live in Kelburn, and wouldn't mind being near Victoria University. Oh, and it needs to be a dog-friendly location since our little dog, Higgons, sleeps under my desk and serves as an inspiration to me. Tough life, being a terrier.
"And the name? Well, 'Pohutukawa' was as New Zealand as 'Kiwi' but less clichéd, and 'Garret' because most of the authors I know would love to be able to afford a garret in which to write"
For expressions of interest or suggestions for possible locations, please email us at info@poetrysociety.org.nz
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.radionz.co.nz/search?mode=results¤t_result_page=22&results_per_page=16&queries_all_query=Upbeat and scroll down to that date to listen to the interview. It's just over 20 minutes long, so allow plenty of listening time.
Sinfonia Antarctica Exhibition, Lower Hutt
12 April - 17 August
TheNewDowse, 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt
Sprinkled with snippets of poetry from Bill Manhire and Chris Orsman, hung with gargantuan prints of ice caps and filled with an atmospheric soundtrack, Sinfonia Antarctica, showcases the great white continent through the eyes of 10 writers and artists. Supported by the NZSO as part of the Exploring Antarctica Festival.
Ruth Dallas
The NZPS is sorry to hear of the death of one of its former patrons, Ruth Dallas, on 18th March: "Ruth Dallas, an award-winning Dunedin poet and children's author, known for her intense evocation of place in the southern South Island, died at Glamis Hospital in the city yesterday, aged 88.
"Born in Invercargill she shifted to Dunedin in 1954. She became Burns Fellow at the University of Otago in 1968, gained an honorary doctorate from the university in 1978, and was made a CBE in 1989." (Otago Daily Times)
Ruth was the winner of the New Zealand Poetry Society's first international haiku competition in 1996 (judged by Alan Wells), with:
Catching the rainbow
On a floating thread . . .
A new-born spider
Abandoned Novel wins Poet $65 000
VUP author [and NZPS member] David Beach was presented with a $65,000 cheque in Wellington on Saturday 15 March, as winner of the biennial Prize in Modern Letters. His first collection of poetry, cheekily called Abandoned Novel, was published by Victoria University Press in 2006 and is the book that made David eligible for the Prize which is awarded to emerging NZ writers with one book but no more than two.
 | That a book of poems can win a $65,000 prize makes me feel as if I've stumbled into a parallel universe where poetry is considered important. |
Abandoned Novel received much praise from the critics on publication and it is a witty, wry collection full of hard-edged exuberance
"Collectively, the poems in this volume stake out new territory in contemporary New Zealand poetry and make a powerful case for further exploration." - Hugh Roberts The Listener (From: VUW Press)
Bookhabit joins list of online publishers
Authors fed up with publishers' rejection slips, and readers hunting for new material will welcome the launch of Kiwi online publisher bookhabit.com - especially writers, who have a chance to win US$5,000 in Bookhabit's "Unpublished Competition".
Bookhabit.com enables authors to self-publish works online for free, contributing to an online library of e-books accessible by readers all over the world. Book lovers visiting Bookhabit.com can sample a book with a free first chapter before they buy. Full books start from as little as NZ$3.30 to download. The site includes fiction, non-fiction, plays and scripts, and has potential for any publishable work.
Authors take 40 percent of each sale, and depending on the volume of sales could earn more than the typical 10 percent traditional publishers pay.
So far there are no poetry books on the site, though there is provision for them. Who's going to be first? See the website: http://www.bookhabit.com
Hone Tuwhare
Along with everyone else, The New Zealand Poetry Society mourns the loss of one of New Zealand's greats: Hone Tuwhare died on Wednesday 15th January. TVNZ on demand has a 14 minute tribute to Hone, including a reading in Dunedin, at http://tvnzondemand.co.nz/content/review/ondemand_video_skin?tab=&sb=date-descending&e=review_hone_tuwhare#ep_review_hone_tuwhare
(Thanks to The Big Idea for this information.)
SideStream
SideStream is a monthly magazine for fresh new poetry, distributed free and in hard copy at poetry venues and cafes around NZ. Over the past year a team of hard working volunteers has produced and distributed each issue of SideStream, but all that paper, photocopying and postage costs $$. Miriam, the editor, has funded this out of her own pocket this year, but is now asking for help from any one who would like to see this free and worthy magazine continue. A $5 donation would print 25 copies of an issue, $10 donation would print 50 copies, $40 would print a whole issue and $45 would pay for a month's distribution costs. Donations of A5 envelopes and stamp booklets would also help cut costs and keep it all keeping on. You can also help by utilising the advertising page and placing an ad for your upcoming events or books in Sidestream for a small fee. Please contact Miriam at mims_53@hotmail.com if you think you can help.
SideStream is also still open for submissions. See http://www.myspace.com/sidestreampoetry for Submissions guidelines and info.
Bernard Gadd
It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Bernard Gadd, a prolific and talented poet, teacher, publisher and writer, on December 11th. Bernie was an enthusiastic and valued member of the New Zealand Poetry Society committee, and a great promoter of New Zealand poetry. He has a memorial page in the HaikuNewZ section of this website, and contributors are invited to send tributes, poems, memories etc to the editor, Sandra Simpson, at nzhaiku@gmail.com You can also read Michael O'Leary's Dominion Post obituary at http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4382134a24437.html
Meg Campbell
The New Zealand Poetry Society notes with sadness the death of poet Meg Campbell, wife of Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, on Saturday 17th November. This is a great loss to the poetry community of New Zealand. Meg and Alistair are past patrons of the New Zealand Poetry Society.
Open House
The new issue of Landfall, published by Otago University Press, has been edited by Jack Ross, and contains poems by: Raewyn Alexander, Stu Bagby, Sarah Jane Barnett, Robert James Berry, Tony Beyer, Sarah Broom, Amy Brown, Jennifer Compton, Jen Crawford, Brett Cross, Hamish Dewe, Michael Harlow, Tourettes, David Howard, Leonard Lambert, Katherine Liddy, Thérèse Lloyd, Olivia Macassey, Mary MacPherson, Sally Ann McIntyre, Andrew Slattery, Elizabeth Smither, Michael Steven, Claire Talbot, Richard Von Sturmer, Ouyang Yu, Kirsten Warner, Keith Westwater
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.'
Hail Auden: York cabbies to recite poet's work
WH Auden's poems have featured in blockbusting films, a classic GPO advert and a presidential speech. Now, in an unlikely bid to promote the poet's city of birth, York Tourism Partnership has come up with an entirely novel environment in which to showcase Auden's work - the back of a cab. In readiness for an expected flurry of visitors to York for the centenary celebrations of Auden's birth, local cab drivers have been trained to recite his poems to their unsuspecting passengers. You can read this item at: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2017896,00.html
