100 Days Of Janet Frame – 100 Day Radio Special

One hundred poems by Janet Frame will be broadcast over 100 days by Access Radio Wairarapa, Arrow 92.7fm, starting on the author’s birth date 28 August, and finishing on 5 December.

Listen every day at 12 noon at Arrow FM 92.7fm / www.arrowfm.co.nz.

100 DAYS of JANET FRAME celebrates the centenary of Janet Frame’s birth on 28 August 1924, and is produced by Arrow 92.7 FM, Wairarapa Word and Wairarapa Library Service, with the kind permission of the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The 100 poems were selected from The Pocket Mirror (1967) and The Goose Bath (2006). The 100-day event is registered with 2024 Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day. Financial assistance was received from Masterton Creative Communities. 

The 59 readers include many Wairarapa locals – kaumātua, students, retirees, teachers, councillors, actors, librarians, cinephiles, museum staff, radio presenters, people who are neurodiverse, people from several countries, publishers, booksellers, editors, playwrights, and journalists. Poets include Kate Camp, Rhondda Greig, Bill Manhire, Mary McCallum, Madeleine Slavick and the Poet Laureate Chris Tse. There is a reading in te reo Māori by Te Whakapono Waikere, and a 2002 recording by Janet Frame herself.

Arrow FM Station Manager Michael Wilson says, “Access Radio Wairarapa is delighted to be part of this substantial and worthwhile literary feat which showcases many excellent Wairarapa poetry performers, as well as a few national dignitaries and experts. To have secured Poet Laureate Chris Tse and the indomitable Bill Manhire is a coup. We are also pleased that Peter Simpson joins in with his reading of ‘A Painting by Colin McCahon.’”

Kaiwhakahaere, Ngā Ratonga Whare Pukapuka o Wairarapa, Manager of Wairarapa Library Service, Louise Dowdell, who reads two poems for the event, says, “Janet Frame is a giant in the literary landscape of Aotearoa, and the Wairarapa Library Service is thrilled to be part of this event showcasing her poetry and celebrating the centenary of her birth. We give a huge mihi to everyone who has contributed from around the motu and our Wairarapa communities and especially acknowledge Arrow FM and our own Assistant Librarian Madeleine Slavick for bringing this meaningful project to fruition.”

Writer, Wairarapa Word Coordinator, and Assistant Librarian Madeleine Slavick, who initiated, coordinated and joined 100 DAYS of JANET FRAME, says, “I thank all the volunteers, readers, supporters, and organisers for their mahi, and I would also like to acknowledge Janet Frame. Is there another writer quite like her? I don’t think so!”

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