Barbara Anderson 1926-2013
On 24 March our dear friend Barbara Anderson died.
Barbara had an astonishing writing career, famously begun in her early 60s, having completed Bill Manhire’s Original Composition course. Her funny, wild, touching fiction was published internationally, drawing a wide range of fans, including Nick Hornby, Janet Frame and Dirk Bogarde. Her NZ publisher Fergus Barrowman said this on Radio New Zealand: ‘No one else has captured the social texture of New Zealand with the same vivacity and wit as Barbara. One of the great things about her was that she could be comic and highly entertaining while never losing sight of the serious undercurrents in her fiction.’
Among her Wellington friends she lives on in the many wonderful sayings we can’t stop repeating. When a dinner party was ready to leave the table, Barbara always said, ‘Shall we move to the soft bottoms?’
Barbara had an astonishing writing career, famously begun in her early 60s, having completed Bill Manhire’s Original Composition course. Her funny, wild, touching fiction was published internationally, drawing a wide range of fans, including Nick Hornby, Janet Frame and Dirk Bogarde. Her NZ publisher Fergus Barrowman said this on Radio New Zealand: ‘No one else has captured the social texture of New Zealand with the same vivacity and wit as Barbara. One of the great things about her was that she could be comic and highly entertaining while never losing sight of the serious undercurrents in her fiction.’
Among her Wellington friends she lives on in the many wonderful sayings we can’t stop repeating. When a dinner party was ready to leave the table, Barbara always said, ‘Shall we move to the soft bottoms?’
Best New Zealand Poems 2012
This eagerly anticipated and always much-debated annual selection is now online. Editor (and current Poet Laureate) Ian Wedde says he was drawn to an enticing element in the poems he selected—their tendency to resist and thwart. ‘I want poetry to do what other kinds of writing don’t, or can’t—I prefer subversion to propriety.’
The editors for the 2013 edition, Jane Stafford and Mark Williams, are now reading work.Publishers and poets interested in submitting poems for consideration should read the guidelines here.
The editors for the 2013 edition, Jane Stafford and Mark Williams, are now reading work.Publishers and poets interested in submitting poems for consideration should read the guidelines here.
The Exercise Book Live
We're looking forward to these three evenings at BATS theatre in June. Led by Helen Heath (poetry), Lawrence Patchett (prose) and Dave Armstrong (scripts), the sessions will take us inside the creative writing workshop. Curator/organiser Pip Adam says, 'Surprising things happen when work that is in this playful phase is talked about by a group of writers.'
The Life of a Scriptwriter/Actor
We were delighted to receive this update from 2010 MA graduate April Phillips, who has been rather busy:
'I wrote a short film called "Letter for Hope". It's directed by Raquel Roderick and was executive produced by Cas'n'Ova Productions of Christchurch. We've just finished a five day shoot with a cast and crew of nearly 50 people. The cast includes me, Don Langridge, and former Writer in Residence, Lorae Parry. It's now in post production.
My latest theatre play "Motel" will have its premiere production in Christchurch in June directed by Craig Hutchison. It will then have its professional premiere at The Basement Theatre in Auckland in August directed by Todd Rippon. I will be travelling to Auckland to act in it. Very exciting!
I have just won the New Zealand Writers Guild 5 Page Film Treatment competition for the treatment of my film "As Seen On TV". This film is based on an idea I pitched to the Master's class back in 2010 and I'm finally about to write the script.'
If you're an IIML grad, please send us your news - it's always good to hear from you.
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