Find out about the benefits of joining the New Zealand Poetry Society here
Deadline for submissions to the NZPS magazine, a fine line: 7 April. Submission guidelines are at: http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/aboutsubmissionguidelines
New Zealand poem nominated for international award
Meliors Simms' poem 'Two Kinds of Time', first published in the acclaimed anthology Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand (Interactive Press, 2009), has been nominated for a Rhysling Award for the best science fiction, fantasy or horror poem published in 2009.
The Rhysling Awards, administered by the Science Fiction Poetry Association, were inaugurated in 1978. Among previous winners are such well-known writers as Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jane Yolen and Joe Haldeman.
"I'm honoured to have my poem nominated for an international poetry award with such an illustrious history," said Meliors Simms from her home in Hamilton. "I had never heard of the genre of science fiction poetry until I was invited to submit to the Voyagers anthology a few years ago. 'Two Kinds of Time' was my first effort and marked a shift in my writing style from introspective to more ideas-based poetry."
Tim Jones, who co-edited Voyagers with Mark Pirie, said "We are delighted for Meliors, and very pleased for this further recognition for New Zealand science fiction poetry and for Voyagers. The anthology has been very well-received in New Zealand, and it has already appeared on the NZ Listener and New Zealand Herald best books lists for 2009. The international interest in the anthology, and in Meliors' poem in particular, is just as exciting."
Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand is available from leading New Zealand independent bookstores. It is also available online from Interactive Press, from Fishpond (NZ) and from Amazon.com
Poetry International Web's Poem of the Week
'Struggles with Meaningless Things' - by Japanese Poet, Yosuke Tanaka
Asian Festival for Childrens Content
This Singapore Festival, running from 6th - 9th May, is a bit spare on details but looks interesting. I've told the publicist that the link isn't very helpful, so by the time you check it out there might be more to learn. See:http://www.bookcouncil.sg/newsletters/afcc/eflyer.html
2010 Randell Cottage Residency
Congratulations to Wairarapa writer Patrick White, who is the New Zealand Writer in Residence at Wellington's Randell Cottage for 2010. Pat White is a poet, essayist and artist whose work reflects his passion for the natural environment and an exploration of the way individuals relate to the land. He will use the six months in the cottage to research and write a biography of West Coast writer, teacher and fellow environmentalist Peter Hooper (1919 - 1991). Hooper wrote award-winning fiction, as well as poetry and non-fiction.
Victoria University's 2010 Writer in Residence
Poet Jenny Bornholdt will be the 2010 Writer in Residence at Victoria University. Earlier this year Bornholdt won the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry for her latest collection The Rocky Shore. The book is made up of six long poems that together form an autobiographical essay.
Bornholdt plans to work on a new volume of poetry while she is at Victoria, and also aims to compile an anthology of short poems by New Zealand writers. She will be hosted by Victoria's International Institute of Modern Letters.
Professor Bill Manhire says he is delighted about Bornholdt's appointment. "She is one of the most generous poets I know. The students who come to study with us will find it richly rewarding to know that she is working and writing just along the corridor. It is going to be very exciting to see where her poetry goes next."
Bornholdt will take up her appointment on 1 February 2010.
Wellingtonian of the Year
Congratulations to IIML director Bill Manhire, who was announced as the Education category winner at the Wellingtonian of the Year Awards dinner. The story in the Dominion Post described the Institute of Modern Letters as ‘the Southern Hemisphere centre for new and emerging writers', adding that ‘Wellington has developed a powerful creative writing culture which [Bill] has led, putting us on a map which operates globally.' In his acceptance speech Bill gave all credit to the students who have been the engine of this ‘imaginative vehicle'. He did reserve some credit for the staff, however - and it seems the students agree, as the Post-Graduate Students' Association has voted Damien Wilkins the Best Lecturer of a taught postgraduate course for the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences this year (an honour that went to Ken Duncum in 2008) (IIML Newsletter)
Aoraki Polytechnic Creative Writing Programmes
Aoraki Polytechnic has been running creative writing programmes for seventeen years. Originally based in Timaru and taught by Owen Marshall, the course shifted seven years ago to the Dunedin Campus to be taught by Diane Brown. Now under the Otago School of Media, this year was the inaugural year in the Certificate in Creative Writing for Publication (Level 6) which builds on the Certificate in Creative Writing (Level 5).
The Level 5 course primarily focuses on exploring Fiction, Creative Non-fiction and Poetry. Different exercises are given in class and attention is paid to developing technical and narrative skills. As well as getting to write across all genres, students keep a journal for the year to record reading and writing and critical self-evaluation.
The Level 6 course is designed for graduates of the Level 5 course or for people who have already had some success in writing. Much of the focus in this course is on developing skills sometimes missing in the otherwise skilled writer, for example, planning and completing a manuscript. Workshops are held every week and each student gets their work closely examined by the whole class. Assessments in this class include a critical comparison between their work and that of an acclaimed writer in their genre.
For further details and enrolments for 2010 call 0800 386 334 or email studydunedin@aoraki.ac.nz or visit http://www.aoraki.ac.nz/dunedin/courses
New feature in Bravado
Bravado is introducing four haikai pages as a regular feature centrefold in each issue - haiku, tanka, haibun, and other Japanese forms. These pages will be guest edited, with Owen Bullock, Bravado's very first poetry editor, starting us off. Owen will invite submissions for this first issue, B18, due out in March 2010.
This new initiative from the Bravado Editorial Collective is intended to reflect New Zealand's passion for the Japanese forms, and to be part of the development of our unique Kiwi-style haiku. Bravado is renewing it's commitment to be wholly New Zealand, a literary journal showcasing work by New Zealanders at home or abroad.
You can submit work, just be sure you put "Haikai Pages" in the subject line, and follow the submission guidelines found at http://www.bravado.co.nz/
All enquiries to bravadoinfo@bravado.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 Doug Wilkins: dbwilkins@gmail.com and/or 021-138-5050
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, who has held the post since 2007. Details at: http://authors.org.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=40048&idDetails=19673
Montana Poetry Award announced on Montana Poetry Day
Jenny Bornholdt's most recent collection, The Rocky Shore, has been awarded the 2009 Montana Poetry Prize. Read more at: http://authors.org.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=40048&idDetails=19676 You can read Margaret Vos's review of The Rocky Shore, published in a fine line in January 2009, at: http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/aboutrockyshore
Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand - Award Nominations
Helen Lowe was nominated in 2 categories of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for 2009: Best Novel - Young Adult (for Thornspell) and Best New talent and won both! Congratulations Helen. Tim Jones had 2 nominations in one category - Best Collected Work - for Transported, his second short story collection, and JAAM 26, which he edited.
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/
Online International Poetry Competition
The combined NZPS and online book publisher www.bookhabit.com international online poetry competition is over, and the winners, selected by David Geary, have been announced. The overall winner is M.D. Friedman with his audio poem 'A Good Dog'.
The winners of the individual sections are:
Written:
'Of Horologists and Jazzologists' Blair Reeve http://www.bookhabit.com/competition/poem_popup.php?pmid=2050
'We Get On' Holly Painter http://www.bookhabit.com/competition/poem_popup.php?pmid=4202
'The Poet From Minnesota' Mary Leary http://www.bookhabit.com/competition/poem_popup.php?pmid=3185
Audio and Video:
A Good Dog M.D. Friedman http://www.bookhabit.com/competition/avpopup.php?pmid=4195
'ADD TV' JeFF Stumpo http://www.bookhabit.com/competition/avpopup.php?pmid=2123
'Circumnavigation' Blair Reeve http://www.bookhabit.com/competition/avpopup.php?pmid=462
And the People's Performance Choice was won by JeFF Stumpo for 'ADD TV'.
Two Hundred and Four New Poems About Wellington
Michele Amas of Wellington won first prize ($1000) in the Wellington Sonnet Competition 2008 with her poem, ‘Wellington Sonnet'. Saradha Koirala, also from Wellington, won second prize ($500) with ‘Courtenay Place' and third prize ($250) was won by Richard Reeve of Dunedin for his poem ‘Turn On.'
The ten Highly Commended entries ($50 each) were from Daryl McLaren (Otaki); Lorraine Singh (Wellington); Cath Vidler (Sydney); Linzee Inkster (Raumati Beach); Trina Saffioti (Karori); Adrienne Jansen (Titahi Bay); Tim Nees (Wellington); Michael O'Leary (Paekakariki); David Chadwick (Otaki) and Kerry Popplewell (Wellington).
Judge Harry Ricketts says he found the 204 entries engagingly varied, some of them showing considerable ingenuity, and that Wellington's weather featured strongly in many of the poems. He adds that some entrants seemed to think they were asked to produce a kind of advert for Wellington, but he was looking for excellent poems in their own right.
The winning sonnet personifies the city as a moody adolescent. Michele Amas says it was a way of expressing the feeling that ‘one minute it's so charming you love it to bits and the next it's testing your endurance.'
John Allen, Chief Executive of New Zealand Post, announced the winners on 1 December 2008. The competition was sponsored by New Zealand Post and organised by the Wellington Writers Walk Committee of the New Zealand Society of Authors. It attracted entries from all over New Zealand and from Fiji and Australia.
Chair of the Wellington Writers Walk Committee, Rosemary Wildblood, said that the competition was great fun for the committee to organise and achieved its objectives of raising the profile of the Wellington Writers Walk and raising support for its ongoing development.
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.'
