This weekend is the Going West Literary Festival – a feast of words in Titirangi Village. I have been going to this festival for years, mostly sitting in the audience listening to New Zealand authors on a range of subjects from birds to explorers to poetry to storytelling. I have witnessed some very special performances: Bill Manhire reading ‘Hotel Emergencies,’ Chris Price and Nigel Cox delivering keynote addresses, Allen Curnow reading poems, his son Wystan reading poems. Jenny Bornholdt, Steve Braunias, Martin Edmond, Anne Salmond, Tusiata Avia, Selina Tusitala Marsh … it is an absolute treat.

To me this is New Zealand’s family festival that still runs without excess formality and still slides back the doors for morning tea, lunch and supper. You get to eat lunch on the same bench as your favourite fiction writer and a poetry fan from Albany. Altogether special.

This weekend I feel very honoured to be the Curnow Reader on Friday night, and on Saturday morning to have a conversation with Peter Bland on the joys of writing poetry for children, and poetry in general. I have a spare copy of Peter Bland’s Collected Poems : 1956 – 2011 to give to someone who likes this post (randomly selected).

When: Saturday 14th September 11.15am: Here comes that childhood pond again: Peter Bland and Paula Green traverse the world of childhood and poetry in general.

I reviewed Peter’s new collection briefly in The New Zealand Herald here.

NZ Books review of Collected Poems by Michael Hulse here.

Listener interview here.

New Zealand Book Council entry on Peter Bland here.

Peter talks to NZ Poetry Box here.

Review of Peter’s children’s poetry collection The Night Kite here.