The Launch of Fiona Kidman’s Poetry “Where Your Left Hand Rests”.

Wednesday evening in Wellington at Unity Bookshops, a lively crowd of family, friends and fellow authors gathered to honour Dame Fiona Kidman on the occasion of the launch of her new collection of poems and to celebrate her upcoming 70th birthday.

The shop was wall to wall with affection for Fiona. Random House, represented by Harriet Allan and Nicola Legat, were quite obviously just as thrilled and delighted as Fiona, with the beautiful Godwit publication. It is a small, hard-backed, black book that might fit into your resting left hand. The collection is interspersed with illustrations of fabrics which both enhance and blend in with this delicious and very feminine collection.

I imagine this book will walk out of the shops all over New Zealand as the perfect gift for that special friend, aunt, sister, grandmother. Many of the poems are personally dedicated to family members. These are very intimate poems. And it is their strength. They investigate the familiar territory of family, past and present generations as well as the life of the writer. Indeed, some of the poems in this collection were inspired by Fiona’s residency in Menton. And, the title poem ‘Where Your Left Hand Rests” evokes a particular moment, one evening at dinner in France, when Fiona is instructed by a beautiful French woman, on matters of etiquette.

A small poem, humorous, but dense too, a slice of French history, a pohutukawa out of context and unable to flower, and the mixing of cultures, an Oxford Don and a Kiwi Dame. Another poem that I particularly like is about the author before she becomes a writer, standing in the library...
“giving the books over taking them back
Until I found I found my own words and wrote them down.”

Fiona’s daughter honoured her mother with a very humorous and warm introduction advising us that Fiona was born at the start of a decade, will turn 70 at the beginning of a decade and that (and here the humour) she is now, perhaps a little decayed (a play on words of course and taken in the best of humour). But decayed, she is not. Fiona Kidman is both a woman of another decade and an entirely modern woman. She retains a girlish excitement at the launch of her new collection, still anxious as all writers are, even after so many successes, and entirely humble as she stands so hugely honoured (a Dame - a name she rarely uses, and the discreet red stripe that denotes the French and recently bestowed, Legion of Honour). Mr Michel Le Gras, the French Ambassador, speaks about the poetry and pretends to be confused about the poetry, reading from the table of contents as if it is a poem by itself (a nice touch, which for just a moment perhaps, had Fiona a little worried).
It was a lovely evening and a true tribute to Fiona that so many people were there, including fellow writers, family and friends, other booksellers (this Unity duly noted with grateful thanks), and there was an general sense of goodwill and joy pervading this launch. The book is a gem. See for yourself.

Footnote:
The Bookman thanks Maggie Rainey-Smith for this report on what was clearly a memorable occasion.
Maggie Rainey-Smith is a Wellington novelist/poet/bookseller and occasional guest blogger on Beattie's Book Blog.