 Kia ora,
Since our last newsletter we have been exceptionally busy here at the Book Council. Our magazine, Booknotes, has been revamped in a striking new style and our website www.bookcouncil.org.nz has been relaunched with a new look and a set of enhanced functions. These new innovations mark an important advance in our development as an organization. Our aim is to foster a love of reading and books throughout New Zealand and this first half of 2009 has been a key period in building our capabilities to communicate that aim.
Next week sees our Annual General Meeting after which we will be staging an event at Café L’affare with two of New Zealand’s literary greats; Owen Marshall and Dame Fiona Kidman, with Maggie Barry chairing the session, full details are below. We would also like to congratulate Dame Fiona on her award of the hugely prestigious Chevalier d'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government.
We very much hope you will be able to join us at our AGM.
Best wishes, Noel
The New Zealand Book Council AGM event
An Hour with Dame Fiona Kidman and Owen Marshall,
hosted by Maggie Barry
The Book Council’s Annual General Meeting takes place in Wellington next Friday 3rd July at Café L’Affare, 27 College Street at 6pm. The AGM is for members only but immediately following the meeting at 6.30pm we invite both members and non-members to a public event with two of New Zealand’s finest writers, hosted by one of its finest broadcasters. Maggie will talk to Fiona and Owen about their lives as writers and their recent work.
Space for the event is limited so we would appreciate an RSVP to our email address reception@bookcouncil.org.nz or phone us on 04 499 1569. Refreshments will be served and a cash bar will be available. Admission is free to members, a koha is appreciated from non-members.
Poetry for the people
‘Poetry and fame – it makes a great Tui ad’, as Glen Colquhoun famously quipped. But Montana Poetry Day is fast entering the national consciousness as a day of real celebration and one that is motivated by love and enthusiasm –with no direct commercial motive – a rare thing in publishing these days. ‘No-one is in poetry for the money so it is the one publishing event which is free of the commercial constraints because quite frankly they don’t apply – there is a lot more freedom in not being in the market place,’ says Siobhan Harvey, national coordinator of Montana Poetry Day. In the seven years since she has been involved, she has watched the national day grow in size and number and in community involvement. As well as being the showcase for the shortlisted poets in the Montana Poetry Award, it has become one of the much-anticipated events on the arts calendar.
‘It’s not that poetry has increased in popularity’ says Siobhan Harvey ‘I think poetry has always been popular; it’s just that it has lost some of its stigma – it has always been seen as being highfalutin’, academic and scholarly - not of the people. But we all have our favorite poem, poetry tellingly cuts across age and ethnic range and Montana Poetry Day reminds people that poetry is in fact popular and provides the opportunity and an outlet to voice that. It’s a chance for poetry to hog the limelight.'
This year, the list of events happening across the country range from a toast artist - who will write part of a Sam Hunt poem on bread in the Hawke’s Bay - to a poetry marathon, poetry slams and poetry puddings. Wha'?? No, that’s not just alliteration. We’ve listed just a few of the events below and in our listings section. To view the full list and keep an update on what’s happening on July 24 check out the Montana Poetry events at www.booksellers.co.nz.
Toast Art @ Pipi Café, Havelock North.
24 July, 2.00pm,16 Joll Road.
Renowned poet, Sam Hunt, and toast artist ,Maurice Bennett, will unveil Maurice’s latest artwork: a Sam Hunt poem printed onto Poesy Bread. Afterwards, Hunt will read his work outside the Café.
Capital Poetry Marathon, Wellington
24 July, 9.00am – 5.00pm, Bucket Fountain, Cuba Mall.
Come along and participate or simply sit and enjoy this marathon feast of poetry. An open mic will operate all day for all comers to read their poems – any style goes. There will also be an Astropoetry Lunch Hour celebrating the International Year of Astronomy in which poets reading astronomy themed poems are welcome to read.
A Poetic Pause and Wall of Words, Christchurch.
24 July, 12.30 – 1.30pm, Canterbury University Bookshop, University Drive, Ilam,
An exciting lunchtime poetry reading featuring some of Canterbury’s finest poets: Fiona Farrell, Bernadette Hall and Jeffrey Paparoa Holman. This reading will be the culmination of a week of busy poetic activities as the bookshop devotes one of its walls – The Wall of Words – to anyone wishing to post their own and/or favourite poems.
The Divine Muses VI Poetry Reading, Auckland.
24 July, 7.00pm – 9.30 pm,The Women’s Pioneer Hall, 2 Freyburg Place, Auckland CBD.
The Divine Muses Poetry Reading marks its sixth birthday with a line-up of nine stellar poets including Janet Charman, Murray Edmond, Stephanie Johnson, Selina Tusitala Marsh and Iain Sharp.
And keeping your eyes on the prize, the poets shortlisted for the 2009 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Poetry Category winner are:
get some by Sonja Yelich (Auckland University Press),
The Lakes of Mars by Chris Orsman (Auckland University Press)
The Rocky Shore by Jenny Bornholdt (Victoria University Press).
The finalists in the NZSA Best First Book Award for Poetry are: Everything Talks by Sam Sampson (Auckland University Press),
The Propaganda Poster Girl by Amy Brown (Victoria University Press)
The World’s Fastest Flower by Charlotte Simmonds (Victoria University
We have 2 copies of Sonja Yelich get some to give away, see details on the right.
An Educational interlude
There have been some changes in the Education department this year. Emma Gallagher has been the coordinator for Writers in Schools since February this year, with Sarah Forster continuing work on the Book Council's other programmes, primarily the education section of the new website.
We are very excited about our new website, with its own dedicated area for Education, divided into information for Parents, Schools and Kids. Please explore this site, check out our new Writers in Schools booking form, and browse our extensive list of children's book reviews. We welcome feedback.
As the coordinators for the NZ Post Book Awards writers tours, we sent 23 writers  into 26 regions across New Zealand. This is a record number of touring writers, and we had some fantastic responses from all over New Zealand. As well as the NZ Post tours, we sent several writers on WIS tours in May - Vince Ford explored central Waikato, Ross Kinnaird the Bay of Plenty, Kate De Goldi went to the Far North, and Tusiata Avia came to Wellington.
Term Three is shaping up to be a big term, with several writers visiting Wellington - David Hill from 22-24 July, Gavin Bishop and Brian Falkner from 10-12 August, and Maria Gill from 17-18 September. These visits are all associated with other events - Gavin and Brian are both LIANZA Children's Book award nominees, and will be attending the ceremony on Monday 10 August while in Wellington. Maria is coming up to attend the very popular 'Spinning Gold' New Zealand writers and illustrators conference, which will see 120 writers and illustrators convene in Wellington from 18-20 September.
Term Three also sees tours sending Keith Tonkin to Auckland, Robyn Belton and Jennifer Beck into the Hawkes Bay and Anna Mackenzie into the Wairarapa. the sky is the limit when you read sees Fleur Beale, Jennifer Beck and Brian Falkner touring into North Canterbury in early August, and Gisborne greeting Apirana Taylor and Tracy Duncan from 7 - 11 September.
Our WordSpace videoconferences are going strong this year, with each session having enthusiastic  participants from up to 10 schools. This term, we have seen Kate De Goldi , Ben Brown and Vince Ford talking about writing children's books for all ages; and Gillian Torckler and Janet Hunt discussing Writing About the Environment. We have three future sessions planned, with dates and times to be confirmed - Owen Marshall and Sue Orr will be involved in a Short Story Writing session at 2pm on Friday 31 July, and there will be two chats with the sky is the limit tourists in August and September. The dates and participants will be confirmed on our website soon.
 Five Easy Questions
with Dame Fiona Kidman
What writer do you most admire?
It seems trite to say Alice Munro, but as a writer of short stories it's difficult not to. So yes, she is one of the writers I most admire, but it depends on the genre, and on the time in one's life to a large extent. There was a time when Joan Didion's Run River was the most wonderful, heart rending thing I had ever read. Perhaps I've moved on from that. And there was the day when I was young, and in a state of seeming despair, and I read Janet Frame's Faces in the Water and felt I had been given the courage to go on. And this doesn't even start on the poets, living and dead, local and further afield. I could go on.
What's the most unusual reader response you've ever had?
The most surprising response I've ever had happened in the early 1980s, a year or two after the publication of my first novel A Breed of Women. A woman came up to me at a function and said 'You owe me $12,000.'
Of course I asked why.
'Well,' she said, 'I read your book and decided that I was out of my marriage. My divorce cost me $12,000.'
I was startled. I hadn't seen myself in this role of homewrecking advocate. Very carefully, I asked her if she was happy, to which she replied that her divorce was the best thing she had ever done.
I suggested that she might owe me $12,000.
We agreed to leave it at that.
What are you working on now?
I've got two projects on the go, one a collection of long stories as part of my Creative New Zealand Michael King Fellowship brief. The second is at research stage, two novellas based on early New Zealand writers. The old lure of poetry raised its wily head at me again when I was I was in Menton (as the 2006 Katherine Mansfield Fellow). I've been trying to resist it.
Which book of yours are you most fond of?
A collection of long stories called A Needle in the Heart (2002)
What's on your bedside table?
Chris Orsman's beautiful and precisely on target poems, The Lakes of Mars, and Alison Wong's new novel As the Earth Turns Silver, a book that shakes cultural boundaries in New Zealand.
Major New Zealand Literary Biographies now online
Dr Paul Millar of the English department of the University of Canterbury has edited, with Dr Jane Stafford and Associate Professor Mark Williams of Victoria University of Wellington, three special issues of the refereed on-line journal Kotare: New Zealand Notes and Queries, published through the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. Collectively, the three issues of Kotare present critical and biographical essays on fifty of New Zealand’s leading early writers, written by a mix of prominent academics and talented new researchers. By and large these critical biographies represent the latest research on these writers and offer the most substantial New Zealand Literature resources of their type currently available on line.
Issue 1 on early ‘New Zealand Women Prose Writers’ is 81,000 words long and contains 12 essays on such key writers as Jane Mander, Katherine Mansfield and Robin Hyde. It is available at: http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Whi071Kota.html
Issue 2 on early ‘New Zealand Male Prose Writers’ is 100,000 words long and contains 19 essays, including ones on F.E. Maning, Wiremu Maihi Te RangikÄ�heke, Samuel Butler, Frank Sargeson and James Courage. It is available at: http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Whi072Kota.html
Issue 3 on ‘The Early Poets’ is 85,000 words long and contains 19 essays on such early New Zealand poets as Thomas Bracken, Eileen Duggan, R.A.K. Mason and Denis Glover. It is available at: http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Whi073Kota.html
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 The New Zealand Book Council receives core funding from Creative New Zealand. We are extremely grateful to our funding partners, who enable us to deliver our programmes. We also value your membership, which supports our work in schools and communities throughout New Zealand. |
The two copies of Vincent O'Sullivan's collection, Further Convictions Pending: Poems 1998-2008 (VUP) were won by Margaret Cameron and Janis Freegard.
Denyse Taylor and Karen Huckstep were the lucky winners of The Slap (Allen & Unwin), by Christos Tsiolkas.
Two signed copies of Nadeem Aslam's book The Wasted Vigil (Faber & Faber), were won by Alison Dyer and Pip Desmond.
We have five double passes to give away to the movie Fugitive Pieces (R16), which is based on a novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels. These passes can be used anywhere in New Zealand, and are valid until Wednesday 8 July.
 We have two copies of Sonja Yelich's Montana Poetry Award-nominated get some to give away, courtesy of AUP.
 Scholastic has kindly donated two copies of Melinda Szymanik and Sarah Nelisiwe Anderson's The Were-Nana for us to give away. Winner of the Children's Choice Award at the NZ Post Book Awards, this is a sure-fire favourite!
Please enter by emailing reception@bookcouncil.org.nz, with the name of the title in the subject line and your address in the body of the email. Entries must be received by 5pm, Monday 29 June for the movie tickets; 5pm, Wednesday 1 July for the books.
As we are quite proud of our new website, we decided that we should recognise the other book-related groups who have recently undergone the same change. Here are a few good links:
Random House NZ has recently made over their site www.randomhouse.co.nz. It has really made the most of their large international and New Zealand list.
LIANZA has just created a new website for Library Week 2009. We were such fans of last year's site that we used the same web designers for our new look.
The Big Idea renewed its site a couple of months ago. The content is now easier to sort through, ensuring it continues to be the "go-to" site for those working in or interested in the creative industries of New Zealand.
On the topic of creative industries, funding body Creative NZ also refreshed its site a few months ago. The new structure makes it much more straight-forward to navigate.
And, of course, the New Zealand Society of Authors switched to a new website at the beginning of May. A great source of information about awards and fellowships, services including its mentoring program, and the worldwide work of PEN International.
Shortlists for each of the Spectrum Print Book Design Awards, the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and the LIANZA Children's Book Awards have all been announced, please go through to our website for full details.
Takaka resident,writer Philip Simpson has been awarded the $100,000 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship to research and write a comprehensive natural and cultural history of the New Zealand totara tree.
Writer and publisher Hugh Price has been awarded a Honorary Doctorate by Victoria University of Wellington.
Dame Fiona Kidman has become a knight - or more precisely a 'Chevalier d'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'. This honour was presented by the French Ambassador at the launch of her most recent book, Beside the Dark Pool.
Matthew S. R. Palmer’s book The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s Law and Constitution has won the JF Northey Book Award for Best NZ Legal Book 2008.
New Zealand's own Eleanor Catton has won the Betty Trask Award for her book The Rehearsal. (VUP, Granta) This award is given by the UK Society of Authors to a book by somebody under 35, written in a traditional or romantic style.
Writers on Mondays, Auckland
22 June, 12 noon - 1.00pm
Location: Art Lounge - New Gallery, cnr Lorne and Wellesley Streets
Description:
David Eggleton and Emily Perkins in discussion, hosted by Siobhan Harvey.
More details from the Auckland Art Gallery
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