Victoria University Press warmly invites you to the launch of
My Father’s Island: A Memoir
by Adam Dudding
on Thursday 10 November, 6pm–7.30pm
at Time Out Bookstore
432 Mt Eden Rd, Mt Eden Village, Auckland
paperback, $35
Editors Michelle Elvy, Frankie McMillan and James Norcliffe are seeking submissions for a comprehensive book of compressed fiction to be published in 2017. This is an ambitious project, the first of its kind in New Zealand, and we aim to include the very best small fictions from around Aotearoa.
The book will be a wide-ranging collection in three parts: one section will feature the best of previously published work; one section will feature considerations and essays by noted practitioners on the short narrative form and its development/ growth in New Zealand; one section will feature entirely new work, to showcase the fast-changing landscape of New Zealand small fictions.
Contribute to this uniquely New Zealand collection by sending via email:
Send new work and essay proposals to: bonsaifiction@gmail.com
There is no theme for this anthology. We will include a variety of stories exploring a range of topics and themes – from humorous to wicked to sublime. We encourage experimental writing, as well as haibun, prose poetry and stories in te reo (accompanied by an English translation). We encourage new and experienced writers. We encourage very short flashes of inspiration or stories that take up the full 300 words. We want to see stories that light up the page and take readers to unexpected endings. We are looking for stories that leave us breathless, wanting more. We aim to put New Zealand flash fiction on the map even further, so give us your shiniest stuff!
Whatever approach you take, make every word count.
Writers may submit up to three unpublished works for consideration. Please send a .doc or .docx file with all submissions in the same document; no pdfs, unless absolutely necessary to demonstrate the layout of specific formatting.
The editors’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. Payment will be in copies of the anthology.
Deadline for story submissions: November 30, 2016. Deadline for essay proposals: October 28, 2016.
For full blog see here
‘Yesterday, as part of the Hawke’s Bay Readers & Writers Festival, I went to see ‘the godfather of NZ literature’, Bill Manhire, in conversation with Aotearoa’s latest poetry sensation, Hera Lindsay Bird. And I can’t tell you what a golden hour that was, such a privilege! Hera steered their talk, and the Q+A session that followed, with just the right tautness and slack to keep things sharp yet in flow.
The conversation ranged over many topics: the joy of “doing different voices”; the difference between writing poetry and prose; ‘the beige short story’; New Zealand’s periodic literary angst about its ‘contempory literary situation’ and the usefulness (or not) of such discussions; cultural cringe; the potential for translation; creative collaboration; the definition of a poem—“poetry trembles in that mid-space … it’s ‘a prolonged hesitation between sound and sense’ … the music has always been crucial to me”.
Bill discussed his forthcoming poetry book, Some Things to Place in a Coffin, named after a poem written for and about the painter Ralph Hotere, with whom he collaborated over the years. And shared a couple of his other poems, beautifully read with a gracious, measured ease, along with a recent, humorous short story about a “deranged children’s writer”. I was deliciously captivated.’
Image above from left to right: Sir Eion Edgar and Bill Manhire with Sir Ron Scott
We are looking forward to celebrating the life of tireless advocate for New Zealand sports and arts, Sir Ronald Scott, on Tuesday evening next week. Please join us at City Gallery, Wellington, to learn of the significant contributions Sir Ronald made to the cultural life of New Zealand.
The service will include readings from Arts Foundation Laureates Jenny Bornholdt and Bill Manhire. Sir Ronald had an extensive collection of poetry and Jenny Bornholdt was one of his favourite poets.
To help us with catering we are grateful if you could let us know you are coming by emailing: rsvp@thearts.co.nz
11 October 2016
City Gallery, Wellington
Doors open at 5.30pm for 6pm start.
The service is followed by light refreshments
For the complete interview on Sarah’s blog go here.
Mimicry is a new Wellington-based literary and arts journal with poetry, fiction, nonfiction, visual art, and even music. It’s the brainchild of Holly Hunter, Assistant Editor at Victoria University Press. This week I had the pleasure of talking to Hunter about the journal, editing her friends, and what she sees happening in young writers’ work.
Sarah Jane Barnett: The journal’s opening page states that ‘Mimicry 1 is an act of nepotism,’ and that your contributors are your ‘incredibly talented and creatively driven friends.’ Tell me where the idea for the journal came from, and about the process of putting Mimicry together. I think many creative people have late night ideas, but most don’t go ahead. I’m glad you made this one happen – it’s a great read. What inspired you to make it happen? Was it difficult to edit and select work from your friends?
Holly Hunter: The opening page is as much a joke as it is a disclaimer, because I think most New Zealand journals are cliquey and nepotistic. In fact the journal was almost called Nepotism, but I backtracked when I realised that poor, well-meaning contributors would forever have it on their record that they were ‘published in Nepotism’—which isn’t exactly an impressive addition to a bio. If nothing else, I want to make a habit of pretentious, grandiose and controversial opening pages that either make the reader laugh or slam the journal shut. Journals could do with more character, I reckon, to live and breathe in their own right alongside the work.
The drive behind Mimicry was less calculated than how I think it’s been received. More than anything it was born from a sappy place of admiration for the people I know who live and breathe their creative side-hustles and deserve a space to display their work. But Mimicry also partly comes from a place of frustration with what I sometimes worry is a vortex of a literary environment. I like reading things that feel raw and contemporary, like they could spin out of control and off the axis, or that don’t care how they’re read but, at the same time, are tight and controlled. Mimicry’s approach isn’t entirely new; the chapbooks, journals and zines of Jackson Nieuwland and Carolyn de Carlo have been doing edgy, fresh things for years. One of their chapbooks, Bound: an ode to falling in love (Compound Press), is a diary of love poems from the perspectives of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. Zines like theirs, and journals like The Lifted Brow, showed me what something like Mimicry could look like. It probably also helps that I’m a plucky young upstart with no sense of responsibility or consequence.
Walk with us through a sonic landscape of memories, stories, and secrets hidden in downtown Christchurch. Audio recordings unearthed from historical interviews, archives, out-of-date audio tours and event recordings are repurposed into a city-wide, location-sensitive audioscape. We also invite you to add your own histories and memories in events the week prior. The Memory Walk will then divine a pathway through this layering of time and histories within the city.
For more info see
or here
Sound Sky runs on Sunday and Monday, 12-1pm. Meet at Godley Statue, Cathedral Square.
This project is presented by Sound Sky. It is part of FESTA 21-24 October in Christchurch.
Selected Poems
Jenny Bornholdt
Victoria University Press, $40
Jenny Bornholdt, a former New Zealand Poet Laureate, much honoured and widely loved, has published nine poetry collections and a number of chapbooks. She has also co-edited an edition of love poems and the award-winning Oxford Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English.
Victoria University Press has recently released an exquisite hardcover edition of her Selected Poems. The beauty of returning to the start of a poet’s work and traversing the contours of a writing life is to experience the delight and wonder of the poetry all over again.
for full review go here
Material must not have been published elsewhere in any form previously, and please do not send us simultaneous submissions (material you have submitted or intend to submit to more than one journal/competition at the same time).
Starling is published twice yearly. Submissions may be made at any time to be considered for the next issue, so the best time to send your work is when you feel it is ready. The editors will read and respond to all submissions as soon as possible, and in any event no later than 8 weeks following the cut-off date for the issue. The editors are unable to enter into correspondence regarding individual submissions or selections.
Cut-off dates for work to be considered for each issue are 20 April for the July issue and 20 October for the January issue.
Poetry: send up to six poems.
Prose: Send up to two pieces, each up to a 5,000 word maximum. Prose may include short stories, creative non-fiction, personal essays or anything else you can surprise us with.
Please send all work as a single document. Pages should be numbered with your name on each page, and work set out at 1.5 line spacing.
Email submissions to editors@starlingmag.com as Microsoft Word or PDF attachments, and include the phrase “Submission for Starling” in the subject line followed by your name. Please do not use unusual formats or paste your submission into the body of your email.
In the body of your email please include your full name, date of birth, place of residence, email address and phone number. Please also include a short bio of no more than three sentences.
Starling is unable to offer payment to contributors. Copyright remains with the author. By submitting to Starling you also agree to be added to our mailing list, so that we may inform you of deadlines for future issues.
see here
The publication will also be available at Unity Books in Wellington and The Women’s Bookshop in Auckland.
Victoria University Press warmly invite you to the launch of
Back with the Human Condition
by Nick Ascroft
on Monday 10 October, 6pm–7.30pm
at The Guest Room, Southern Cross Bar
39 Abel Smith St, Te Aro, Wellington.
Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Vic Books. p/b, $25.
