Wellington poet published in US via online poetry network

A writing adventure with a wild imaginary character begun at age 18, has resulted in Wellington poet Janis Freegard’s work being published decades later by a US publisher as a 37 poem chapbook, The Continuing Adventures of Alice Spider .

Janis, who’s also the author of the poetry collection Kingdom Animalia: the Escapades of Linnaeus (AUP), added to the Alice Spider escapades over the years and had a shorter extract published in AUP New Poets 3 (2008). But the current chapbook by Anomalous Press is the longest version yet of Alice poems.

The work charts the surreal life of Alice Spider as she encounters normal life stages and turns them on their head in unpredictable ways.

Alice made her way to the US via the Tuesday Poem online network run by New Zealand writer Mary McCallum.

Janis says, “I was paired with wonderful US poet Melissa Green for an end-of-year “Secret Santa” Tuesday poem swap – I posted one of Melissa’s poems on my blog and she kindly hosted Alice Spider.  Cat Parnell of Anomalous Press spotted Alice there and asked if I’d like to contribute to a new online journal she was involved with.  Alice appeared in an edition of Anomalous, after which the editors contacted me to say they were interested in publishing an Alice Spider chapbook”.

Of Alice, Janis says “In some respects she’s a kind of alter ego, a more reckless version of myself. I do let her borrow a few of my own experiences from time to time. Perhaps she’s also a spirit of wildness and freedom.  I know some people think of her as a spider, but to me, she’s human (well, as human as any fictitious character).

“There has always been a mix of realism and surrealism, humour and menace.  The earlier pieces contain more knives, blood and cigarettes; the later pieces tend to be a bit lighter, with zebras and hot air balloons.

“It feels very much as though Alice has gone off travelling without me.  It’s been a really exciting process and a great example of how the worldwide web (a very appropriate vehicle for someone called Alice Spider) can connect people across the planet and make things happen,” she says.

The Continuing Adventures of Alice Spider is being launched on Friday 6 September at Matchbox Studios in Wellington.