News Release
For immediate release
10 May 2006
KIWI KIDS HANGING OUT WITH WRITERS
Far-flung classrooms of Kiwi college kids are meeting within a virtual word space next Thursday to talk with two leading
New Zealand poets.
Glenn Colquhoun and Jenny Bornholdt are taking part in a video conference with students from Central Hawkes Bay College,
Hutt Valley High School, Kaitaia College, Tuakau College and Nelson’s Nayland College. They will discuss what makes a
good poem, what it means to be a poet in the 21st century, answer students’ questions and read from their work.
The event is part of a ground-breaking programme called WordSpace, run by the New Zealand Book Council. Delivered in
real time, the ten WordSpace sessions are held over the school year, and offer secondary students the opportunity to
discuss topics such as poetry, reviewing and playwriting with distinguished New Zealand writers via video conferencing.
Any secondary school that is a member of the Book Council can take part in the sessions.
Book Council Chief Executive, Karen Ross, says WordSpace was designed to inspire and educate college students about New
Zealand literature.
‘It’s invaluable not only for the contact between writers and students, but also for the exchange of ideas between
classes unlikely to mix due to geographical circumstances.’
Poet biographies are attached.
News Release
For immediate release
10 May 2006
WordSpace Poet Profiles
Glenn Colquhoun
Glenn Colquhoun is a doctor, poet and author of children's picture books Uncle Glenn and Me and Uncle Glenn and Me Too.
He says his first collection of poetry, The Art of Walking Upright (1999) is 'about belonging, discovering a place to
stand, finding what it means to be Pakeha, and what it means to be human'.
In 2004 he was awarded the Prize in Modern Letters. Glenn has also won numerous awards for his poetry, including both
the Poetry Category and Readers' Choice Award at the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards for his collection, Playing
God.
Jenny Bornholdt
Jenny Bornholdt is a poet and anthologist. Born in Wellington, she holds a BA in English Literature and a Diploma in
Journalism. Her works include This Big Face (1988), Moving House (1989), Waiting Shelter (1991), How We Met (1995), Miss
New Zealand: Selected Poems (1997) and These Days (2000).
With her husband, poet Gregory O'Brien, she co-edited My Heart Goes Swimming: New Zealand Love Poems (1996), and, with
Mark Williams and O'Brien, An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English (1997), which won the 1997 Montana Book Award
for Poetry. Jenny won the 2002 Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship, which resulted in the collection
Summer (2003). She was a recipient of one of the 2003 Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Awards and in 2005 she
became the fifth Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate.
ENDS