A TINGLING CATCH

A Century of New Zealand Cricket Poems 1864 -2009

Edited by Mark Pirie

HeadworX - $34.99

'A Tingling Catch' is the first anthology of New Zealand cricket poems to be collected. It is where poetry meets the essence of cricket: bowling, batting, fielding, commentary, cricket watching and listening, accounts of famous matches and players, childhood cricket poems, social members of the game and lots more!
The result is a wonderful insight into the world of cricket from all levels and standpoints of the game that will have the reader tingling for the next catch from some of our best poets. I have so enjoyed reading their poems.

The anthology presents some of New Zealand literature's most well-known names (and some overseas authors), both past and present, featuring highly acclaimed and award winning poets and cricket writers such as Don Neely, Kevin Ireland, Michael O'Leary, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Brian Turner, Harry Ricketts, James Brown, Geoff Cochrane, John Clarke (aka Fred Dagg), Whim Wham, Denis Glover, Mark Pirie, Richard Langston, Bill Direen, William Pember Reeves, Elizabeth Smither, Anne French, David Eggleton, David Mitchell, Graham Lindsay, Thomas Bracken, Murray Edmond, Samuel Butler (England), Sir AP Herbert (England), Nick Whittock (Australia) among others.

About the editor:

Wellington-born writer, editor, publisher and critic Mark Pirie initiated, co-edited and produced the literary magazine JAAM (Just Another Art Movement) from 1995-2005, and currently edits the HeadworX New Poetry Series and the poetry journal broadsheet, as well as co-organising the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa in Wellington (http://www.poetryarchivenz.wordpress.com/).

Pirie is the author or editor of over 20 books, including the anthology of Generation X New Zealand writing, The NeXt Wave and (with Tim Jones) a prize-winning anthology of New Zealand Science Fiction poetry, Voyagers (winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work and one of the “Best 100 Books” of 2009 in the NZ Listener). He is listed in the new critical book 99 Ways into NZ Poetry (Random House, 2010) and is included in New New Zealand Poets in Performance (Auckland University Press, 2008). He has been a cricket watcher and enthusiast since he was a boy and has played social grade cricket for two Wellington clubs, Wellington Collegians Cricket Club and Hutt District Cricket Club.

HeadworX is one of New Zealand's most productive and leading independent poetry publishers. It publishes about 5 titles per year and its list runs to over 50 titles since 1998, many of which have received funding from Creative NZ. (More info on the HeadworX website.)

'A Tingling Catch' will launched at the Basin Reserve's Cricket Museum this coming week.

Herea are three of my favourites:

Sportsman
Anton Vogt

Eluding his opponent, knowledge,
He kicked and bowled his way through college;
And now that he has entered heaven,
He plays for Peter's 1st X1.

Cricket
Brian Turner

A game about which
you can know very little
and say anything
and be right sooner or later.

Epitaph for an old cricketer
Harry Ricketts

Death;s sharp offcutter
has bowled you though the gate