Kiri reads ‘So far below’, originally published in Ika No. 4 (2016).
Kiri Piahana-Wong is a poet and editor, and is the publisher at Anahera Press. Her poems have appeared in over forty journals and anthologies, most recently in tātai whetū: seven Māori women poets in translation, Bonsai: Best small stories from Aotearoa New Zealand, Landfall, and Ora Nui. Kiri lives in central Auckland with her partner and baby son. Her second full collection, Tidelines, is due out next year.
Featuring * Maata Wharehoka (Parihaka) * Janis Freegard * Harvey Molloy * Carina Gallegos * George Watterson * Maria McMillan * John Howell * Helen Rickerby * Tim Jones * Reading of ‘Remember the Brave’ (the new children’s book about World War One conscientious objectors), and more …
Entry by donation. One of the ‘Peace, Peoples and Planet’ weekend events, which begins on Friday night with a screening of ‘Tātarakihi:The Children of Parihaka’, with Maata Wharehoka, and includes sessions on Saturday morning with Moana Jackson, Ngāti Kahungunu / Ngāti Porou, speaking about peace and justice in Aotearoa; presentations on militarisation and climate justice in Aotearoa and the Pacific with Edwina Hughes, Peace Movement Aotearoa Coordinator, Teanau Tuiono, Ngāpuhi / NgaiTakoto / Atiu, Mary Moeono-Kolio and Auimatagi Joseph Moeono-Kolio, Pacific Climate Warriors; and a session on Sunday afternoon on faith perspectives on peace – full details of the ‘Peace, Peoples and Planet’ weekend are here
Last week Jillian Sullivan’s creative non-fiction essay ‘In the Midst of My True Life’ won the non-fiction section of the Elyne Mitchell Writing Awards in Australia. The essay is spliced with her poetry and, true to the award’s theme of writing about Australasian rural life, records life in the Ida Valley and the process of building a new life, handful by handful with straw and earth. Earlier in October her essay ‘Between Lands’ won the Juncture Memoir Contest in America, on the theme The Walls Between Us.
Link to read her essay ‘In the Midst of My True Life’ here
Link to memoir results here
Congratulation from Poetry Shelf!
Jillian Sullivan lives in a small village on a high alpine plateau in New Zealand. Her twelve published books (for adults and young adults) include creative non-fiction, novels, short story collections and poetry. She teaches writing in New Zealand, in Philadelphia for Rosemont College, and in Pennsylvania for the Highlights Foundation. Once the drummer in a woman’s rock band, and now grandmother of eight, her passion is natural building. Her latest book is the memoir A Way Home.
Now that is an eye-catching poetry list!
In Mama Mancini’s guest apartment, two racquets above the bed
What travellers would gleefully arise
from their beds, seize the wooden racquets
to wander through narrow alleyways
stumbling over the detritus, the restaurant rubbish
past the legless man, now sleeping across
his home made trolley, to search for a court —
whites whiter than white, the promise of fair play
the powerful Medicis on either side of the square
aced out by love
a back hand, a double fault, an under spin.
What fancies, what flights of imagination
possessed Mama to furnish a guest
with such pursuits? We do not ask and if, late at night
a tennis ball comes softly thudding though our open shutters
we will know it is only the previous travellers
foot weary
returning from their wondrous sport.
©Frankie McMillan
Frankie McMillan is the author of four books, the most recent of which, My Mother and the Hungarians and other small fictions ( Canterbury University Press ) was longlisted for the 2017 NZ Ockham awards. In 2005 she was awarded the Creative New Todd Bursary. Other awards include winner of the New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition in 2009 and winner of the New Zealand Flash Fiction Competition in 2013 and 2015. In 2014 she held the Ursula Bethell writing residency at Canterbury University and in 2017 the University of Auckland/Michael King writing residency. Her latest project is Bonsai: best small stories from Aotearoa New Zealand ( CUP, 2018) edited with Michelle Elvy and James Norcliffe.
The 31st Annual Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards were held at TSB Hub on Wednesday 24 October with more than 70 people in attendance. Attracting a record number of entries, the awards give local authors and poets an opportunity to showcase their skills. Judges Mary-Anne Scott, Matt Rilkoff and Airini Beautrais were delighted with the high standard of entries. Hāwera’s Bruce Finer was the winner in the Open Section Short Story, while Maria Cunningham of New Plymouth placed first in the Open Section Poetry. Sasha Finer, from Hāwera High School, won both the Secondary School Short Story and Poetry categories. Maia-Laine Rupapera Maeke from St Mary’s Diocesan School was placed first in the Secondary School Research Article category.
Results:
Research Article
First Place ($500)/ I Don’t use Snapchat, But my Dad does – Maia-Laine Rupapera Maeke / St Mary’s Diocesan School
Second Place ($300)/ The Acceleration of Communication – Alex Paish / St Mary’s Diocesan School
Third Place ($200) / Farming through Technology – Monique Radford / St Mary’s Diocesan School
Short Story
Open
First place ($500)/ Heartwood – Bruce Finer / Hāwera
Second place ($300)/ Dilemna – Chris Purdon / Hāwera
Third Place ($200)/ Catch a Boy – Darly Paraha / Hāwera
Secondary School
First place ($500)/ Immortality – Sasha Finer / Hāwera High School
Second place ($300)/ The Magpie – Sasha Finer / Hāwera High School
Third Place ($200)/ Olympics – Holly Stewart / Hāwera High School
Poetry
Open
First place ($500)/ Elegy – Maria Cunningham / New Plymouth
Second place ($300) / After the Sale – Stuart Greenhill / Stratford
Third Place ($200)/ You always look younger when smiling at Parties – Michaela Stoneman / Pātea
Highly Commended / A rip in the crotch of my Jeans – Alyx Devlin / Eltham
Highly Commended / Futures Past – Michaela Stoneman / Pātea
Highly Commended / Death and Taxes – Maria Cunningham / New Plymouth
Secondary School
First place ($500)/ / Forbidden Fruits – Sasha Finer / Hāwera High School
Second place ($300)/ Long Distance Calls – Sasha Finer / Hāwera High School
Third Place ($200)/ My Normality – Lexi McQuaig / Ōpūnake High School
Join us for the 2019 Kāpiti Writers’ Retreat and renew and recharge your writing and your life. The Kāpiti Writers’ Retreat is an immersive, two-day gathering for writers, happening on the Kāpiti Coast. The retreat includes intensive morning workshops, lively afternoon discussions and space to write, relax and engage with topics critical to your work. Read about last year’s event here.
This looks very good indeed! See here
NZ Poetry Shelf 