Wednesday, July 04, 2012

News from IIML


1. Writers on Mondays
The IIML’s 2012 Writers on Mondays series opens next week on 9 July, (at Te Papa, 12.15pm, Level 4 Marae) with the Creative New Zealand/Victoria University Writer in Residence Bernard Beckett.  A few days before he flies off to the White Ravens Festival in Germany, he will read from his gripping new novel-in-progress, Lullaby, and talk with Kate De Goldi about how the screenplay for his novel August is going.  In a series packed with local talent, highlights include an hour with James Brown on the launch of his fifth poetry collection (July), an insight into Ken Duncum’s new play West End Girls (August) Bill Manhire’s ‘exit interview’ with Damien Wilkins (September), and of course the ever-popular Best New Zealand Poems reading (23 July), this year featuring no fewer than 13 of the best of 2011. 
We’re also pleased to welcome two international guests, the US poet, novelist and memoirist Terese Svoboda and award-winning translator and poet Michael Hofmann, to our 2012 series. Both Svoboda and Hofmann will teach a masterclass for our  postgraduate writing students. Hofmann, who is here with the support of the New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation, will also deliver their annual lecture on 9 August at Rutherford House, Bunny St.

2. A room of one’s own in 2013
Writers feeling a little envious of Bernard Beckett’s productive year should note that we’re currently seeking applications for the 2013 Creative New Zealand/Victoria University Writer in Residence, which offers the successful applicant a year’s salary and a room of their own at the IIML.   In recent years the residency has been held by writers of YA and adult fiction, poetry, and plays – and the position is also open to writers of creative non-fiction.  Applications must be from writers of ‘proven literary merit’, which in practice tends to mean a field that ranges from senior practitioners to authors who are relatively early in their publishing careers.  Applications close on 30 September: Information on how to apply is available here.
On the subject of residencies, congratulations to 2009 MA workshop member Pat White, who has just been awarded the 2012 Landfall Seresin residency.

3. A Commonwealth winner
A month or so ago it was announced that Emma Martin (MA 2010) had won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize – and we’re still feeling proud and delighted for her.  The judges (chaired by Bernardine Evaristo) said that her story ‘Two Girls in a Boat’ had ‘linguistic flair, originality, depth and daring. The story was chosen for its gorgeous, elegant and spare writing; its nuanced handling of time, place and relationships; its daring, provocative subject matter and clear-eyed exploration of the choice of heterosexual conformity in the face of sexual mutability.’   Quite so.  Emma Martin talks about her writing here.

4. The gourmet critic
We enjoyed the story Lawrence Jones told about the late Bill Pearson in the most recent issue of the Journal of New Zealand Literature. Pearson was apparently talking about Simon During’s well-known essay in And/1 on Frank Sargeson’s ‘The Hole that Jack Dug’. His view was that ‘all During had done was “discover” things that Sargeson had intentionally put there as a suggestive subtext . . . And then Bill said that he, as a writer, felt about such criticism as he would feel if somebody came into his kitchen, raided his supplies to cook a gourmet meal, sat down and consumed it all himself, and then turned to his host and said “Now you may applaud.”’ 
If you’d like to subscribe to the Journal of New Zealand Literature, you can do so through their website. The current issue is particularly lively, with reviews (including a glowing account of The Best of Best New Zealand Poems), learned articles, thoughtful polemic, and a piece of memoir from current NZ Poet Laureate Ian Wedde.


International Institute of Modern Letters
Victoria University
P.O. Box 600
WELLINGTON 6140


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