New Zealand Writers

BUSH, Rachel

A beguiling mixture of poetry, diary extracts and short prose pieces

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BUSH, Rachel (1941 - ) is a poet whose work has appeared in journals including Sport, Landfall and Faber's Introduction.

Cilla McQueen praised The Hungry Woman (1997) for its "wry sense of humour," describing the book as "a beguiling mixture of poetry, diary extracts and short prose pieces,which are firmly grounded in New Zealand."

"Bush's writing is superbly natural and alive," writes Hamesh Wyatt. "She grabs the first opportunity to be sensationally creepy, disturbing and frightening."

The Hungry Woman is based on work completed while Bush was a member of the first MA course in creative writing at Victoria University.

(KC.)

Updated Information

The Unfortunate Singer (2002)extends the themes of The Hungry Woman(1997). The book is a mixture of poetry, diary extracts and short prose pieces. Bush draws on a Seraphine Pick painting for some of her inspiration. She writes, "The images in Seraphine Pick's painting are both odd and familiar: I like this combination. A poem too, can be an act of love for something known or something dreamed about."