The blackbirds are now starting their mating chorus at 3 am; I've got buds bursting into bloom all over the garden and I've developed a hankering for salads. It must be spring in the air. Which is my excuse (we don't mention the p word*) for a small site spruce-up. As you may have noticed, there …
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell dies
News just in this morning – Alistair Te Ariki Campbell died yesterday, aged 84, “after a short illness”. I heard him read at the Christchurch Books & Beyond festival back in 2000 or 2001. He seemed quite frail even then, but as soon as he started reading the hairs on the back of my neck stood …
poetry in your lunch break
For those who fancy a bit of poetry in their lunch break, Frankie McMillan has organised a poetry reading on Friday 21st August 2009 at the Christchurch Central Library. There will be six of us, and the whole thing is set to run for about an hour and a quarter. It should be a really …
litmags and giftbags – we have winners!
The New Zealand Literary Publication most read by the discerning participants of this poll was … a dead heat between Landfall and Takahe (with nine regular readers each). (That is, “who read it regularly” – stop sniggering in the back row.) The New Zealand Literary Publication most subscribed to by the similarly discerning participants of this …
Invitation to Dressing for the Cannibals
Last night I got my official invitation to the launch of Frankie McMillan's first poetry collection, Dressing for the Cannibals. There were lots of inappropriate jokes about undressing, salad dressing, mustard, relish, etc etc. (David Gregory was there … sigh!) Jokes aside, it should be a really good book. Frankie is routinely there-or-thereabouts in poetry competitions, …
A Dark Feathered Art 