Yep, it’s that time of year again – New Zealand’s longest-running poetry readings series is back. Starting in just eleven days (October 2nd) and giving some sort of meaning back to Wednesday nights, it’s time to prepare yourself for eight weeks of Poetry in Performance! As usual, there will be an open mic session (with …
Death of a Poet – Seamus Heaney
We’ve lost one of the great ones. Last Friday that gentle, good man with the eye of a shepherd and the heart of a bard, Seamus Heaney, died after a short illness, aged 74. For a number of reasons I find myself feeling undone by this. He has been a huge influence. I never met …
Awards! (Other people’s!) and a Competition!
Last night the 2013 NZ Post Book Awards were announced, with The Darling North by Anne Kennedy taking out Best Book of Poetry, and Helen Heath’s Graft taking out Best First Book of Poetry. Well done Anne and Helen! The open was a really interesting field – the judges decided they couldn’t only shortlist three, …
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A status update (but not in a facebooky way)
It’s this time of the year when I usually do a private overview of what I’ve managed to achieve over the previous twelve months. So it’s spookily appropriate that David Howard asked me to provide a “career overview” in thirteen poems and associated comments for the Truck poetry blog, where he is guest editor this …
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Chinese Whispers and Collins-ese Whiskers
One of my (current) favourite writing exercises (and one which will be making its way into the next Reading for Writing workshop – you have been warned!) is based on the old game of Chinese Whispers. You know, the one where you whisper something into someone's ear, then they whisper it to the next person, …
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A Dark Feathered Art 