: Janet Charman, judge, and Julie Ryan, winner of the 2014 Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems
The winner of the 2014 Kathleen Grattan Prize
for a Sequence of Poems, run by International Writers' Workshop NZ Inc,
has been announced with the $1000 prize awarded to Julie Ryan of Orakei for her
sequence, On Visiting Old Ladies.
The catalyst for Ryan’s sequence of nine poems was
memories of her life in Kaitaia, where she lived from the age of 8 to the age
of 18, and visiting the old ladies in the district who had stories to tell,
none about fishing!
“I have met many more interesting old ladies since then," she
says.
The judge this year was Janet Charman of Avondale, a well known
poet and previous winner of the Kathleen Grattan Prize, since published as at
the white coast by Auckland University Press. She says of this year’s
winning work, “A sequence
that immediately jumped out at me as intellectually chewy; fascinating; astutely
and provocatively nutty; overall an entirely rewarding read.”
She adds she was privileged
to read the well structured and very high quality sequences of poems in the
2014 group of offerings for the Kathleen Grattan Prize.
Runner-up in this very strong group was Janet Newman of Levin for beach.river.always.
Newman is studying for a Masters of Creative Writing at Massey University and
her poems about the conflicted relationships that exist between people and
nature will form part of her MCW thesis.
About the Winner
Julie Ryan also writes as Julie Haines and published
her first novel, Swimming with Big Fish, earlier this year. She can be
contacted on 09 578 0498 or by email to julieryan@xtra.co.nz.
About the Competition
The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of
Poems has been made possible by a bequest from the Jocelyn Grattan
Charitable Trust. It was a specific request of the late Jocelyn Grattan that
her mother be recognised through an annual competition in recognition of her
love for poetry and that the competition be for a sequence or cycle of poems
with no limit on the length of the poems. It is one of two poetry competitions
funded by the Trust, the other being the prestigious Kathleen Grattan
Award run by the publishers of Landfall magazine.
This is the 6th year the prize has been
contested. Previous winners are:
2009: Alice Hooton for America.
2010: Janet Charman for Mother
won't come to us, and Rosetta Allan for Capricious Memory.
2011 Jillian Sullivan for how to
live it
2012 James Norcliffe for What do
you call your male parent?
2013 Belinda Diepenheim for Bittercress and Flax.
International Writers' Workshop NZ Inc (IWW) was founded in 1976 by poet Hilda B Whyte and
meets twice a month from February to November at the Northcote Senior Citizens
Villa in Northcote. IWW's main aim is to inspire writers by means of workshops
and competitions across fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
For further information about the Prize, contact Sue
Courtney, President, International Writers' Workshop NZ Inc, www.iww.co.nz, email sue@iww.co.nz, phone (09) 426 6687.
No comments:
Post a Comment