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Lots going on for the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Day! Full list of events here: POETRYDAY.CO.NZ
I will be reading at two events:
Where the Wild Words Are |
Come and hear Mākaro Press poets bewitch, berate, busk and bewilder at the Wellington Central Library.
Mary Cresswell • Lindsay Pope • Janis Freegard • Tim Jones • Harvey Molloy • Maggie Rainey-Smith • Keith Westwater • Pete Carter • Peter Stuart • Robyn Cooper • Helen Rickerby • Julie Hanify • Peter Rawnsley • Robin Peace • John Howell
Entry details: Free
Date/times: Friday, 25 August, 1-3pm
Location: Wellington Central Library, Victoria Street, Wellington.
Contact: makaropress@gmail.com
Further info: www.makaropress.co.nz
Poetry Ngaio
An evening of poems by some of the terrific NZ writers with connections to Ngaio and Crofton Downs. Readers include Kerry Popplewell, Kate Spencer, John Howell, Janis Freegard, Carmen Downes and more. Includes open mic. Light refreshments provided. (You’ll also be able to see/add to a display of poems responding to local photographs, which runs at Cummings Park Library 14-28 August.)
Entry details: Admission free, all welcome
Date/times: Friday 25 August, 7.30-9.30pm
Location: Cummings Park Library, Ottawa Road, Ngaio, Wellington
Contact: Kerry Hines poetryngaio@hotmail.comFurther info: https://poetryngaio.wordpress.com/
I’ll also be calling into the Upper Hutt Library for this:
Competition Awards Night
Upper Hutt Library’s annual poetry competition returns this year on the 20th year celebration of National Poetry Day (to enter, see competition calendar). Join us on National Poetry Day to celebrate our competition winners and all things poetry!
Entry Details: Free, all welcome.
Date/Times: 25th August, 6.30-8.30pm
Location: Upper Hutt Central Library
Contact: Danny at Danny.Tiata@uhcc.govt.nz
Further Info: http://upperhuttlibrary.co.nz/upper-hutt-poetry-competition/
Happy Birthday National Poetry Day!
Something to go to on National Poetry Day – hurrah!
Waiting for the bus tour…
Reposting this in memory of the Easter Rising, 100 years ago.
This is a poem of mine that was originally published in the wonderful Blackmail Press. I wrote it after a visit to Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. Joseph Plunkett, one of the Irish rebels who took part in the 1916 rebellion (or “Easter Rising”), was executed hours after marrying his sweetheart, Grace Gifford.
Easter Rising (Joseph Plunkett, 1916), by Janis Freegard
they blindfolded him
our guide explains
for the benefit of the soldiers
(six standing, six kneeling)
so they wouldn’t see his eyes
when they shot him –
a piece of white paper
marking his heart
the day before, he’d married
in Kilmainham Gaol –
the proposal’s on display
You will marry me and no-one else
he’d written to his Grace
I’ve been a blind fool
Well, the books are out there and have already been spotted in Unity Books (both the Auckland and Wellington branches), as well as the Auckland University bookshop and Rona Gallery in Eastbourne.
It would be lovely to see you at the launch:
The Year of Falling (Mākaro Press) and
The Glass Rooster (AUP)
by Janis Freegard.
5:30- 7 pm, Tuesday 16 June 2015
Meow Cafe
9 Edward Street, Te Aro.
Wellington
Bar tab for first drinks.
I realise I’ve been very quiet on the blogging front recently, largely because I’ve been beavering away on a novel – more on that in the coming months. But another thing I did recently was to contribute a short story to a great initiative – ‘Sweet As: Contemporary Short Stories by New Zealanders’, an anthology to raise funds for the IHC. My late sister Joanne was intellectually disabled (she had Sanfilippo Syndrome) so I had a bit to do with the IHC while growing up and I’m pleased to be able to do something to support them.
There’s an impressive line-up of authors in the anthology, including Frances Cherry, Maggie Rainey-Smith, Wes Lee, Jo Randerson, Lawrence Patchett, Kate Mahony, Vivienne Joseph and many more. Hope to see some of you at the launch:
Date: Tuesday, 4th November
Time: 5.30 p.m.
Place: The Grand, 69 – 71 Courtenay Place (upstairs)
Thanks and congratulations to editors Wendy Moore and Blair Polly for making this happen.
This Sunday, 25th May I will be reading at Kapiti’s ‘Poets to the People‘ which I’m really looking forward to. It’s at Valhalla 31 Poplar Avenue, Raumati South, 4-6 pm and there is an open mic, so bring your poems! Food and drink are available.
This was the photo I meant to post a week ago, on the final day of the Ema Saiko Fellowship at New Pacific Studio. It’s the yurt-like nomadic structure that Lydia and Vlad were building at the studio while I was there. I’ve known it since it was bags of wool and pieces of dowelling and it was great to see it finally assembled. It was very warm inside and comfortably fitted 7 people.
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