Well I’ve got the winter workshops lined up at last. Drumroll please! The first one is a masterclass on linebreaks (well you knew that was coming, didn’t you!), held on Saturday 26th July. We’ll be looking at the different things you can do with linebreaks – drama, pacing, rhythm, meaning, tension, enjambment, parsing – you …
Sonnets for SIWA – the results
Well it's all done and dusted now. Results have been handed out, winners cheered and others given their "short, helpful comments" from the judge. Who were the winners? (Drumroll please) 1st: Elizabeth Robertson, "My father is never lonely", Runner-up: Shirley Eng, "A Bicycle sonnet", Commended: Janice Healey, "Water! Right!", and Mary Fitzgerald, "Post Spring Song". …
Sonnets for SIWA – part II: the deliberation
Well I'm making my final choices in the SIWA sonnet competition. It's been quite interesting. Encouraging in some ways, discouraging in others. My worry when I first sat down with the packet of entries was that I would be confronted with entry after entry in stilted, forced rhyme. Or bad pastiches of Keats, or Donne. …
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Sonnets for SIWA
I've been asked to judge a sonnet competition for the South Island Writer's Association, which should be fun. But being asked got me thinking about what exactly makes a sonnet. Where are the borders, the limits? I covered this briefly with my Polytech class (with varying amounts of success). We had a look at sonnets …
A Dark Feathered Art 