Hardship, history and home feature in Writers on Mondays

25 June 2012

Hardship, history and home feature in Writers on Mondays

A sneak preview into a world inhabited by a hapless young girl rescued from a plague-ravaged slum by a sinister benefactor makes for a dramatic start to this year’s Writers on Mondays series, presented by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML).

On 9 July, Victoria University’s Writer-in-Residence and two-time New Zealand Post Young Adult Book Award winner Bernard Beckett will give the audience a glimpse of his new novel Lullaby—the third and final in his series of metaphysical novels examining death that began with Genesis.

Later in the series, New York writer Terese Svoboda shares her ‘weapons grade’ poetry along with the chilling story of her uncle’s experience as a military policeman in occupied Japan, and the playwright/director relationship—which some say can be ‘better than marriage’—will be examined by Ken Duncum and David O’Donnell on the back of their premiere of West End Girls at Circa Theatre.

Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear a baker’s dozen of the 25 poets whose work was chosen for the online anthology Best New Zealand Poems 2011 in a reading on 23 July in the lead up to National Poetry Day.

And in the year New Zealand takes centre-stage at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Writers on Mondays also presents an opportunity to hear one of the world’s most highly-esteemed translators of German literature, Michael Hofmann, converse with Professor Bill Manhire on 13 August. Manhire himself is in the spotlight on 3 September, with a reading and ‘exit-interview’ before he retires as IIML Director.

Later in September the annual series will present a host of exciting new literary talent emerging from the IIML, before finishing on Monday 8 October with words and pictures from Kerry Hines, whose work with an archive of 19th century New Zealand photographs has inspired a collection of poems.

IIML Senior Lecturer Chris Price says that with sparkling fiction débuts from graduates Gigi Fenster, Lawrence Patchett and Kirsten McDougall, a new play by Director of Scriptwriting Ken Duncum, and a career-defining Selected Poems marking the impending retirement of the IIML’s Director, Bill Manhire, 2012 is a big year for both staff and graduates, and the series unashamedly reflects this.

“In a programme jam-packed with Wellington’s finest literary talent, Damien Wilkins’ on-stage interview with Bill is bound to be a highlight—and in Terese Svoboda and Michael Hofmann, we have two fascinating writers to round things out with an international perspective.”

Writers on Mondays events run from 12.15-1.15pm at The Marae, Level 4, Te Papa except for:
• Better Than a Marriage: Circa Theatre, Mon 20 August, 12.15-1.15 pm
• Short Sharp Script 1 & 2: Circa Theatre, Mon 24 September and 1 October, 12.15-1.15 pm
• Poems, Photographs & Regenerating Histories: City Gallery Wellington, Mon 8 October, 12.15-1.15 pm

The full 2012 Writers on Mondays programme appears below. The programme can also be viewed and downloaded here.

Admission is free, all are welcome.

Writers on Mondays is presented by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and with support from Circa Theatre and City Gallery Wellington. Michael Hofmann's visit to New Zealand is made possible by the New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation at Victoria University.

Writers on Mondays 2012

12.15–1.15 pm, The Marae, Level 4, Te Papa, except for:
• Better Than a Marriage—Circa Theatre
• Short Sharp Script 1&2—Circa Theatre
• Poems, Photographs & Regenerating Histories—City Gallery Wellington

9 July: Metaphysics for the Young and Curious: Bernard Beckett
Victoria University Writer-in-Residence and two-time New Zealand Post Young Adult Book Award winner Bernard Beckett is working on a screenplay for his novel August, and writing the third and final in a series of metaphysical novels, examining death. A young girl is rescued from a plague-ravaged slum by a rich benefactor, and taken to a world where nothing is as it seems… join us for a sneak preview with chair Kate De Goldi.

16 July: The Graft of Poetry: Helen Heath, Joan Fleming, Lynn Davidson, Harry Ricketts
Four poets with collections published in the last 12 months offer a sampler of their work, and discuss the long and possibly rocky road to publication. Helen Heath (Graft) and Joan Fleming (The Same as Yes) are first-timers; Lynn Davidson (whose Common Ground mixes poetry and essay) and Harry Ricketts (Just Then) are both teachers of creative writing with longer track records. Does it get any easier after the first book? Chair: Chris Price.

23 July: Best New Zealand Poems 2011
As a curtain raiser for National Poetry Day on 27 July, Chris Price introduces a baker’s dozen of the 25 poets whose work was chosen by last year’s editor, Bernadette Hall, for the online anthology Best New Zealand Poems 2011. We welcome Hera Lindsay Bird, Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle, Janis Freegard, Rob Hack, Dinah Hawken, Anna Jackson, Helen Lehndorf, Kate McKinstry, Bill Manhire, Harvey Molloy, Marty Smith, Ranui Taiapa and Tim Upperton.

30 July: I Come from Palmerston North: James Brown
This month sees the release of James Brown’s fifth poetry collection, Warm Auditorium. We thought it was time to find out more about the man behind the poems, and tease out the shifts and changes in the work itself. Chair Fergus Barrowman drags the poet away from his desk at Te Papa to consider how work, world and words have cohabited and evolved between the covers of his books, and to give the new poems a hearing.

6 August: Bohemian Girl: Terese Svoboda
New York writer Terese Svoboda has a body of work that includes poetry, novels, memoir, translation and over a hundred published short stories. Black Glasses Like Clark Kent is a memoir of her uncle’s chilling experience as a military policeman in occupied Japan, and Weapons Grade uses poetry to interrogate the power of occupation—both political and personal. Svoboda’s latest novel is Bohemian Girl, ‘a cross between True Grit and Huckleberry Finn’. She talks with Mary McCallum.

13 August: Speaking in Tongues: Michael Hofmann
In the year New Zealand takes centre-stage at the Frankfurt Book Fair, it’s a pleasure to present one of the world’s most highly-esteemed translators of German literature. Michael Hofmann has translated many of the greats (Roth, Brecht, Kafka, Eich, Süskind), including his own father, the novelist Gert Hofmann. He is an award-winning poet in his own right, as well as an astute poetry critic and editor. He appears in conversation with Bill Manhire.

20 August: Better Than a Marriage? Ken Duncum & David O’Donnell at Circa Theatre
It’s said that, all going well, the playwright/director relationship can be ‘better than a marriage’. Ken Duncum and David O’Donnell talk about who does what and who did what in their world premiere production of West End Girls (running at Circa, 4 Aug–1 Sept). Where—if anywhere—are the creative divisions between writing a play and directing it? Are they two different things—or different phases of the same thing?

27 August: Blood and Money: Gigi Fenster, Kirsten McDougall, Lawrence Patchett
American writer Grace Paley once observed that stories could be about anything but they needed to ‘retain the facts of blood and money’. The eagerly-awaited fictional debuts from Gigi Fenster, Kirsten McDougall and Lawrence Patchett are featured in this session. Hear what three new writers think about blood and money and books.
Chair: Damien Wilkins.

3 September: Songs of My Life: Bill Manhire
The publication of the career-view Selected Poems is the perfect opportunity to profile this major figure in our literature. In his retirement year from Victoria University, it might also be time to lay to rest rumours of warm slippers and the fireside chair. The five-time winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry will read and discuss his work with Damien Wilkins.

10 September: The Next Page (1)
Each September we preview talent emerging from the MA Writing for the Page workshops at the IIML. This week 10 writers read from prose and poetry in progress: Jessica Hansell, Megan Corcoran, Julie Hanify, Jane Blaikie, Helen Innes, Greg Kan, Samantha Byres, Kerry Brown, Hannah Mettner and Sue Francis are introduced by Chris Price.

17 September: The Next Page (2)
Another smorgasbord of new writing from the IIML’s 2012 MA workshops. Damien Wilkins introduces Magnolia Wilson, Cushla Managh, Nancy Fulford, Georgia Vaughan, Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle, Lydia Wisheart, Adam Stewart, Sarah-Jane Parton, Jo Morris and Wendy Joyce.

24 September: Short/Sharp/Script (1) at Circa Theatre
How much drama can you cram into 60 minutes? Find out as actors perform rehearsed readings of work produced by MA (Script) students at the IIML. Ken Duncum introduces snappy dialogue from Vinay Choudary, Uther Dean, Francesca Emms, Kirsty Hamilton and Leon Harrison.

1 October: Short/Sharp/Script (2) at Circa Theatre
Five more funny, fast and furious mini-dramas by MA scriptwriters are delivered fresh and hot. Andy James, Maaike Olsthoorn, Joanna Pascoe, Jonathan Thompson and James Wypych are on show with Ken Duncum, once again cooking up the most entertaining lunch-hour in Wellington.

8 October: Poems, Photographs & Regenerating Histories: Kerry Hines at City Gallery
Working with an archive of nineteenth-century photographs, Kerry Hines has written a compelling collection of poems that bring together text and image, fact and imagination, raising the question of how we look at and imagine our history. Kerry will discuss the archive and its creator, outline the origins and development of the work, and present a selection of the poems and photographs which form part of her creative writing PhD thesis. Chaired by Roger Blackley.

ENDS

© Scoop Media