Celebrate Robert Burns’ Birthday With a New Jolly Good Fellow
Dunedin (Tuesday 21 January 2013) – The Dunedin City Library will host both the incoming and outgoing Burns Fellows at
the Robert Burns Poetry Competition prizegiving.
David Howard, Burns Fellow for the University of Otago during 2013, and Majella Cullinane, Burns Fellow for 2014, will
be in attendance at the prizegiving at 12.30pm on Saturday 25 January on the ground floor of the City Library.
Mr Howard, poet and founding editor of literary magazine Takahe, is a passionate supporter of the arts in Dunedin and
has proved to be a discerning judge for the Robert Burns Poetry Competition for the last two years, alongside Paul
Veart. The judges have been impressed with the outstanding rate with which the quality of entries for the competition
has grown.
As well as presenting the prizes for the competition, Mr Howard will speak about his experiences during his year of
tenure before (metaphorically) handing the baton to Irish poet Majella Cullinane, who will speak about her hopes for the
coming year as the new Ms Cullinane was born in Limerick, Ireland and became a New Zealand resident in 2008, tutoring in
Creative Writing at Massey University. Her writing accomplishments include a Sean Dunne Young Writers’ Award for Poetry,
the Hennessy XO/Sunday Tribune Literary Award for Emerging Poetry and an Irish Arts Council Award to study for her
Masters in Creative Writing at St. Andrew's University, Scotland. She has worked as a Creative
Writing Fellow and Writer in Residence in Ireland and Scotland. Her first collection of poetry, Guarding the Flame, was
published in 2011.
This is the 10th year the Robert Burns Poetry Competition has been run in collaboration with the Burns Club of Dunedin,
a successful partnership which continues to attract entries from published, unpublished and young aspiring poets New
Zealand-wide.
The winners of the competition will be announced on Thursday 23 January, and this year’s successful poets will be
invited to the ceremony to read their works as part of the Dunedin City Library’s celebrations.
For He's A Jolly Good Fellow!
Saturday 25 January, 12.30pm - 1.30pm, Ground Floor, City Library
A celebration of Robert Burns' Birthday and the Robert Burns Fellowship and a chance to hear readings of the winning
poems from the 2014 Robert Burns Poetry Competition.
Judges David Howard and Paul Veart present the awards, while Majella Cullinane talks about her hopes for the year ahead
as the University of Otago's Burns Fellow.
ends