Leigh Davis
Otago University Press - $39.95
The Winner of The Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry 2009, Stunning debut of the repairing of a life was published for National Poetry Day by Otago University Press for National Poetry Day, with a launch in Auckland.
is the title on a notebook of poetry written by Leigh Davis in 2008. This was during radiotherapy treatment following surgery for a brain tumour, which was affecting his ability to express himself in words. The notebook writing was the beginning of a work that developed into a long poem called ‘Stunning Debut of the Repairing of a Life’.
The resulting manuscript won The Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry 2009, chosen by judge Ian Wedde from over ninety manuscripts. Wedde said he was looking for ‘that hard-to-define thrill of imaginative and intellectual confi dence that held my attention, astonished me, and made me turn the pages’. He described Stunning debut ..., which moves from barely decipherable notebook pages to ‘austere formal couplets’, as a ‘complex and moving work’ that challenges the reader. Sadly, Leigh Davis passed away before the award was announced.
About the author:
Leigh Davis (1955–2009) was born in Wanganui and completed an MA Hons in English at Auckland University.
Further study at Victoria University led to a career in business and the founding of his private equity firm Jump Capital. His writing career got off to a dramatic start in 1983 when he co-edited the highly innovative magazine AND with Alex Calder and Roger Horrocks, founded Jack Books, and published his fi rst volume of poetry, Willy’s Gazette, which won Best First Book of Poetry in the New Zealand Book Awards. As a poet, Davis went on to create a series of book-length works that were ambitious and innovative, with an unusual physical form that was an extension of their content.
A Trustee of the Arts Foundation, Leigh Davis maintained strong interests in literature and the visual arts. He also gave talks, wrote essays and published widely as a critic.
Tuesday is poetry day so it seemes appropriate to review the late Leigh Davis' work today.
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