Category Archives: Poetry Awards

Brian Turner Wins Caselberg International Poetry Prize 2014

Leave a reply

Brian+Turner+SST

Congratulations!

Brian Turner Wins Caselberg International Poetry Prize 2014

Otago poet Brian Turner has been awarded the $500 first prize for his poem ‘Mulching’, in the annual Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition.

Second prize ($250) went to Dunedin-based writer Annelyse Gelman for her poem ‘Auden,’.

Poems by Mary Macpherson (Wellington), Lynley Edmeades (Dunedin) and Jessica le Bas (Nelson) were highly commended by this year’s competition judge, the distinguished poet Sue Wootton. Another entry from Brian Turner was also highly commended.

In her report, Ms Wootton said that each of the winning entries was ‘adeptly tuned, attentive to itself at every turn.  What is said is inseparable from how it’s said.’ Over 200 entries were received for this year’s Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition, from writers working in several different countries. Entries are judged ‘blind’, with the judge being completely unaware of the author’s identity until after the final decisions have been made.

The prize-winning poems and the judge’s report will be published in the May issue of Landfall, and together with the highly commended entries, will be posted on the Caselberg Trust web-site next month. Awards will be presented at a function at the University Book Shop in Dunedin, in April.

Past winners of the Caselberg competition include Mary McCallum from Wellington, and Tim Upperton from Palmerston North (who won two years in succession). Previous judges have been poets Bernadette Hall, James Brown and Gregory O’Brien.

The Caselberg Trust was established seven years ago to buy and renovate the former home of writer John Caselberg and his wife, the painter Anna Caselberg. The Caselberg house is now a residence for writers and artists of all descriptions, and the Trust runs residencies, workshops, exhibitions, and innovative arts events for the wider Dunedin community.
Robert West

Secretary Caselberg Trust
PO Box 71 Portobello Dunedin

www.caselbergtrust.org
info@caselbergtrust.org

Just announced Michael Harlow gains Lauris Edmond Poetry Award

Leave a reply

6   Unknown-3

Terrific news: Michael Harlow has been awarded the Lauris Edmond Poetry Award.

To celebrate Friends of the Lauris Edmond Memorial Prize and the New Zealand Poetry Society gathered for readings from Riemke Ensing, Michael Harlow, Vivienne Plumb, Jenny Bornholdt and Geoff Cochrane (and the announcement!) at a Festival event.

The Lauris Edmond Memorial Award is for Distinguished Contribution to Poetry in New Zealand. Established in 2002, the prize is awarded biennially for excellence in and substantial contribution to New Zealand poetry.

I am also looking forward to Michael’s new selected poems, Sweeping the Courtyard, out March 2014 with Cold Hub Press.

The Nigel Cox Unity Books Award was awarded to writer Anne Kennedy

1 Reply

 

anne-kennedy-mugshot

I was delighted to see Anne Kennedy was awarded the Nigel Cox Unity Books Award. This generous gift to New Zealand authors recognises the importance of an author’s reading life.  Anne has contributed a terrific range of books to our reading options. Her writing takes us on narrative and poetic journeys unlike any other — her use of language is sumptuous, innovative, fresh, moving. Reading her fiction and her poetry is an absolute treat. Congratulations Anne!

Poetry Shelf interview with Anne

The Nigel Cox Unity Books Award was awarded to writer Anne Kennedy (left) at a surprise announcement at the end of her session at the Wellington Writers Week. The Nigel Cox Unity Books Award is an award for a writer that displays ‘an exceptional way with words’.

The award was founded by Unity Books Auckland owner Jo McColl, and Susanna Andrew to commemorate Nigel’s love of writing and reading. From his time as a bookseller, Nigel understood the sad reality that writers don’t always have the money to spend on books. The recipient receives a $1000 Unity Books voucher to spend as they wish.
Writers are readers before they are writers and Nigel adored it when fellow writers came into the shop, loitered and mulled and browsed the shelves. Unity Books, he believed, was “a writers’ turangawaewae”.
Anne Kennedy has recently published the novel The Last Days of the National Costume and the poetry collection The Darling North. She is a writer who has consistently surprised her readers with an utterly unique way of viewing the world.
Previous winners of the award have been writers Geoff Cochrane and Bill Manhire.

 

Susanna Andrew said, “A $1000 book voucher buys a lot of browsing time… Research has shown that more thought goes into spending vouchers than spending cash so I hope Anne will do a lot of standing around in the bookshop and take all the time she needs. This voucher has no expiry date… As an early fan of Anne’s writing, I know Nigel would be immensely proud to be championing her work today. He thought she was immensely talented and I have a clear memory of the way he loved slyly peddling her book 100 Traditional Smiles (now sadly out of print) as though it were a secret society he was letting you in on.”

Invitation to a Book Launch: Alan Brunton’s Beyond the Ohlala Mountains with a terrific lineup of guests

Leave a reply

BEYOND THE OHLALA MOUNTAINS
Beyond the Ohlala Mountains 
Alan Brunton / Poems 1968-2002

Book Launch

Date: Thursday, 27 March 2014

Time: 6:30 for 7-9pm

Venue: Wharekai at the University of Auckland’s Waipapa Marae, 16 Wynyard St.

Titus Books is proud to launch Beyond the Ohlala Mountains: Alan Brunton / Poems 1968-2002. Drawing on twelve published collections and the rich resource of his papers, editors Michele Leggott and Martin Edmond present a selection that shows for the first time the scope of Brunton’s poetics as well as his trademark linguistic bravura.

Join us for a glass of wine to launch the book with readings and performances in the spirit of Red Mole and Roadworks, those experimental theatre troupes that put so many of Alan Brunton’s words in the mouths of singers, musicians and actors.

Performers include Anne Kennedy, Arthur Baysting, Barry Saunders, Bob Orr, Brian Potiki, International Superstars of Westlynn, Jean McAllister, Jeff Henderson, John Davies, John Newton, Kilda Northcott, Ksenija Chobanovich, Leila Adu, Madeline McNamara, Mr Sterile Assembly, Murray Edmond, Nisha Madhan, Peter Simpson, Ruby Brunton, Russell Haley, Stephen Bain and Tony McMaster.

For further information please contact publicist Simone Kerr simonekerr@gmail.com.

More details on Sarah Broom Poetry Prize

Leave a reply

Sarah Broom Poetry Prize 2014

The winner will be announced at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in Auckland on Saturday May 17.

The prize for 2014 will be $12,000.

Entries close March 14th.

Entries now open for the Sarah Broom Poetry Prize — established poets welcome to enter

2 Replies

cp-gleam cp-tigers-at-awhitu

Entries are now open for the inaugural Sarah Broom Poetry Prize. Poets (both emerging and established) are invited to send in 6 to 8 poems (of which at least 5 must be unpublished).

images-2

The Sarah Broom Poetry Prize is inspired by the spirit of imagination, freedom and determination that marked Sarah’s life and work. The prize aims to provide recognition for a New Zealand poet and a financial contribution to support their work.

The prize will be awarded annually, based on 6-8 unpublished poems, to encourage and support the recipient in the completion of a full manuscript of original poetry.

Entries for the Sarah Broom Poetry Prize open on 3 February 2014 and close 14 March 2014 and the inaugural Sarah Broom Poetry Prize will be announced at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival in May 2014.

Shortlisted poets will be invited to read their poetry at a specific poetry event at the Festival.

Fundraising for the Poetry Prize is now underway and will determine the final amount awarded to the recipient. If you would like to contribute to the fund please make a donation with your credit card or internet banking via PayPal.

If you would like more information about donating please emailtrustfund@sarahbroom.co.nz

 

Details on how to enter here

Winner of Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry 2013

Leave a reply

Unknown-16

Congratulations to Siobhan Harvey who is the winner of the 2013 Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry. She was one of ninety entries. This year’s judge was Christchurch-based poet, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman. Siobhan receives $16,000. Here is the Radio NZ piece from Arts on Sunday.

New Zealand Book Council Page

Siobhan Harvey’s profile on the Random House website

Lost Relatives on Steele Roberts’ website

Siobhan Harvey on the The Poetry Archive (U.K.), featuring audio recordings of her work

A Poetry-Shelf Toast: Michele Leggott is a poet to be celebrated

Leave a reply

cl-michele-leggott

Michele Leggott was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry in 2013. She has published a substantial body of work including seven volumes of poetry. She edited Young Knowledge: The Poems of Robin Hyde. Michele is a Professor of English at The University of Auckland, she co-founded The New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre, has mentored countless emerging poets, and was The National Library’s inaugural Poet Laureate (2008-9). Her poetry has accompanied her through the extraordinary challenges of losing her sight, an experience that has not diminished her commitment to New Zealand poetry in any way whatsoever. Her poetry is, as she attests, in debt to a long line of women writers; it engages with heart and intellect, along with eye and ear. There is difficulty, there is musicality, there is silence, there is autobiography, there is the real world, there is mythology, there is history, there is the world of writing, there are homages to others, there is acute and sweet lyricism, there is family, there is love, there is laughter, there is song, there is a shifting vocabulary, there are foreign words, there is experimentation, there is tradition, there is pain, there is sadness, there is joy, there is empathy, there is movement, there is poetry that haunts and there is poetry that holds you close so you lean in and listen.

Congratulations Michele on this well deserved honour.

To celebrate the PM’s Award for Poetry Michele answers twelve questions for The NZ Herald.

nzepc

New Zealand Book Council page

Auckland University Press

My review of Mirabile Dictu

Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize 2014

Leave a reply

 

Capture2-700x220 images-3

Sue Wootton (now poetry editor for ODT) will judge the Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize 2014. For details on Sue and the award see the link here.

Information for Entrants

The competition opens 1st October 2013. Entries will be judged blind. First prize, $500, Second prize $250, plus 5 Highly-commended for which there are no monetary prizes. The first- and second-placed poems will be published in the May 2014 issue of Landfall, and all winning and highly-commended entries will be published on the Caselberg Trust web-site (copyright remaining with the authors).

Poems must be the original work of the entrant, previously unpublished, and not submitted elsewhere. Poems must be no more than 40 lines in length.

Entries must be typed, double-spaced, and any style or subject will be considered. The poet’s name must not appear on the manuscript.

Entries may be submitted by e-mail to poetry@caselbergtrust.org  typed double-spaced in the body of the e-mail rather than as attachments. Up to three entries may be sent in one e-mail.

Alternatively, entries may be submitted by post (typed, double-spaced, on one side of the page) to ‘Caselberg Poetry Prize, PO Box 71, Portobello, Dunedin 9048, NZ’.

Entry fee: $15 for up to three poems from any one entrant. Payment may be made to any branch of the ANZ Bank or by online direct credit, to the Caselberg Trust, a/c no. 06-0901-0353698-00, giving your name as the payer reference; or by cheque made out to ‘Caselberg Trust’.

Along with your entries, whether by e-mail or as hard copy, please provide your name and postal address and phone number, and your e-mail address (for receipt of your entry fee when this is received). If you have no e-mail address, and you want a receipt, please send a stamped addressed envelope.