New Executive Director brings a wealth of experience

The Michael King Writers’ Studio trust is very happy to announce the appointment of Ka Meechan as the new Executive Director of the Writers’ Centre.

Ka has comprehensive knowledge of the international book trade from over 30 years of experience working in New Zealand, the UK and Australia. She has travelled extensively during her career working with clients and partners across the globe.

In August 2013 Ka left her role as Managing Director, Asia Pacific with Nielsen Book Services where she was responsible for revenue and client management across the range of  bibliographic information and retail sales monitoring services  in the Asia Pacific region encompassing Australia, New Zealand and the Asian countries bordering the Pacific.

For the past two years Ka has worked with the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ). Most recently she organized the PANZ International Summit in May and the PANZ Book Design Awards in July. She also project managed the Visiting Author component of New Zealand’s Guest of Honour programme at the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) in February 2015.

Ka says:  I am very much looking forward to working with the Michael King Writers’ Studio Trust to build on the successes achieved over the last ten years.

Catriona Ferguson, Chair of the Trust says “Ka will bring energy and enthusiasm along with vast experience of the literature sector to the Trust. We are thrilled that she has accepted the role of Executive Director”.

As the first national writers’ centre in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Trust’s mission is to support quality New Zealand writing and the development of New Zealand writers. The centre is based in the old Signalman’s House on Takarunga Mt Victoria, Devonport, Auckland.

Ka will take up her appointment on Tuesday 01 December 2015.

Writing ‘The Stain of Blood’: A Symposium on Poetry and History

will be held at Victoria University of Wellington on 4–5 December 2015.

Read the call for papers here.

In particular, we are interested in submissions for the Cafe Reader, 3000 words or less, in the form of short stories or editorial.   The Cafe Reader is published quarterly and 12 to15 authors typically appear per issue.

We also publish poems in the zine but typically no more than three per issue so competition for that space is aggressive.

Our authors’ Honoria for the Cafe Reader are $250.00 for fiction and editorial (3000 words or less plus an authors’ bio and whatever input the author can contribute regarding an illustration for the piece – no additional compensation is available for use of photos or original art work used to illustrate each piece; however, we will assist with finding illustrations as necessary).

We pay $150 for poetry submissions that are accepted for the Cafe Reader.  This compensation covers anywhere from 1 to 4 poems per author depending on length.

Submissions to the Cafe Reader must be previously unpublished in any format.  Copy Rights are retained by the author. However, the author agrees that Phantom Billstickers has the right to use the piece in both the Cafe Reader hard copy and digital formats (the Cafe Reader is currently available for download on Amazon.com) for both domestic and international distribution.

By submitting, they also agree that the piece published in the Cafe Reader will not be published in any other format between the publication date of the issue where it appears and the publication date of the next quarterly issue of the Cafe Reader.  We do not guarantee which issue any piece will appear in.  When a piece is scheduled to appear a layout will be provided to the author for review and approval prior to publication.

Submission Format  – editable WORD document submitted via email is the preferred format. The author should provide some background information about themselves in conjunction with the submission.

The following is a blurb about the Cafe Reader which may be helpful in pointing writers in the right direction regarding themes:

The Phantom Billstickers Cafe Reader is a quarterly literary zine featuring short stories, poems, art and editorial by New Zealanders.  The stories we publish are heartfelt glimpses into family, community, and the more colourful aspects of the creative life in New Zealand.  Many of our articles and stories revolve around Kiwi music. Our contributors range from globally recognized Kiwi authors to emerging artists who deserve to be heard.

Additionally, Phantom Billstickers publishes 8 poem posters per quarter that are not published in the Cafe Reader.  Poets are not compensated for the first poem we publish on a poster but are paid $75.00 for additional poems that are selected for use over time.  We have been running the poems on posters program for 7 years now and there are many poets who have been published on 2 or more occasions over that time.