Karamu students write digital poetry
Students from Karamu High School will create poems for The Disappearing, an innovative free app that maps New Zealand
with poetry.
Students at Karamu High School will create new poems for a writing project that uses smartphone technology. The
Disappear¬ing , an app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, is a bold experiment to map all of New Zealand with poetry.
The project asks students to submit an original poem about a place or person that has vanished from history. The app
then uses GPS technology to pinpoint the poem to the place that inspired it. Users can download the app for free,
discovering what poems appear in their local environment, or navigate Australia via poetry.
The app is designed as both a free anthology that explores the transformation of people, places and ideas, and a
learning resource that uses technology to connect students with literature and history.
Karamu High will be The Disapperaing’s first desti¬nation in New Zealand, after previously mapping the entirety of
Australia. The Red Room Company’s workshops will be led by acclaimed local poet, Hannah Mettner.
The Red Room Company’s Artistic Director Johanna Featherstone believes that The Disappearing is an inventive way to
engage young people with poetry, while investigating themes of time and history. “In an age when many traditional
publishing formats are disappearing, this project provides new, digital platforms for reading, writing and publishing
poetry,” says The Red Room Company’s Artistic Director, Johanna Featherstone.
“New technology al¬lows us to present poetry in unusual ways. Does an app like The Disappearing represent the primary
way these students will be reading in the futureends WHEN: Saturday 13th July, 2013 WHERE: Karamu High School, Windsor
Ave, Hastings Interviews and hi-res images are available on request. For more information please contact Tim Grey at
media@redroomcompany.org or on +61 401 920 141. The Red Room Company is a not-for-profit organisation that creates,
publishes and promotes poetry in unusual ways.
See redroomcompany.org for more information.
ends