$1000 Poetry Prize announced

International Writers' Workshop NZ Inc (IWW) is delighted to announce that due to an ongoing bequest from the Jocelyn Grattan Charitable Trust the Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems will take place again later this year.

The competition is for a cycle or sequence of poems that has a common link or theme and is open to current and honorary members of IWW.  New members are welcome although to become eligible to enter the 2014 Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems, applications for membership must be received by the third Tuesday in June. Details of how to join and the rules and dates for the 2014 competition are available from the IWW website: www.iww.co.nz.  Judging takes place in October.

The winner will receive a prize of $1000.

This is the sixth time this poetry competition will be held with previous winners being Belinda Diepenheim (2013), James Norcliffe (2012), Jillian Sullivan (2011) Janet Charman and Rosetta Allan (joint winners 2010) and Alice Hooton (2009).

IWW is also delighted to announce that a previous winner of the prize, Janet Charman, will judge the competition this year.

Janet began writing in the 1980s as part of a feminist women’s writing collective, while she was doing an MA in Eng. at the University of Auckland. She has published eight poetry collections. The first was Two Deaths in One Night, from The New Women’s Press. The seven following with AUP.  Her 2007 collection Cold Snack won the 2008 national 'Best Book of Poetry’ award.  Her most recent, At the White Coast, AUP, 2012, is a memoir of her time in England as a twenty-something and the manuscript of this collection was joint winner of the Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems in 2010. Janet lives in Avondale with her partner and adult children and is currently working on a non-fiction project.  

In addition to the Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems, IWW holds seven or eight writing competitions a year for members. These cover fiction, non-fiction, children's stories and a single poem. Workshops take place on the first and third Tuesdays of the month in the Auckland suburb of Northcote and prospective members are welcome to attend two meeting before committing to join the workshop.

The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems is sometimes referred to as the 'Little Grattan' as the Jocelyn Grattan Charitable Trust also funds the biennial Kathleen Grattan Award, run by Landfall / Otago University Press.

For further information about the Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems, contact Sue Courtney, email iww-writers@outlook.com or phone (09) 473 5110.