New Zealand Book Month

Here is the lineup of venues and readers for the Voyagers Book Tour of New Zealand. Like any lineup of readers, this one is subject to change – but I am very much encouraged by the enthusiasm Voyagers poets around the country have shown to take part in the tour.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to organise a Hamilton event on the tour.

It’s a real fillip for the tour that Voyagers has received a very good review in the latest issue of the New Zealand Listener (October 10-16, pp. 40-41). I’ll get some quotes from the review up here as soon as I can.

Voyagers Tour Events: Venues and Readers

Dunedin Public Library, First Floor, 14 Oct, 5:30 pm. Join Sue Wootton, James Dignan, Tim Jones, David Karena-Holmes and IP Director Dr David Reiter to kick off the national tour of Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand – plus open mike for science fiction poetry.

Dunedin, Circadian Rhythm Café, 72 St Andrew St, 15 Oct, 7 pm. Our event here will feature Sue Wootton, Jenny Powell, James Dignan, David Eggleton, David Karena-Holmes, Tim Jones and David Reiter – plus open mike for science fiction poetry.

Christchurch, Madras Café Books, 165 Madras St, 16 Oct, 5 pm, with Owen Marshall, James Norcliffe, David Gregory, Tim Jones and David Reiter – plus open mike for science fiction poetry.

Wellington Central Library, 19 Oct, 5:30 pm, with Janis
Freegard, Robin Fry, Helen Rickerby (tbc), Jack Perkins, Rachel McAlpine, Jane Matheson, Harvey Molloy, Marilyn Duckworth, Tim Jones, Mark Pirie and David Reiter

Kapiti Coast, Paraparaumu Library, 179 Rimu Road, 20 Oct, 5:30 pm for 6 pm,
featuring Puri Alvarez, Nic Hill, Harvey Molloy, Helen Rickerby, Michael O’Leary, Janis Freegard and David Reiter – plus open mike for science fiction poetry.

Auckland Central Library, 22 Oct, 5.30pm, , with Raewyn Alexander, Jacqueline Ottaway, Iain Sharp, Michael Morrissey, Anna Rugis, Alastair Paterson, Iain Britton, Thomas Mitchell, Janet Charman and David Reiter

Devonport, Depot Arts Space, 28 Clarence Street, 24 Oct, 6:30 pm, with Iain Britton, Alistair Paterson, Andrew Fagan, Janet Charman, Anna Rugis, Thomas
Mitchell and David Reiter – plus open mike for science fiction poetry, if time permits.

Interactive Publications and New Zealand

Voyagers follows hot on the heels of IP’s first New Zealand releases, Harmonic by Stephen Oliver and the Text + Audio CD by Stephen Oliver and Matt Ottley, King Hit. Based in Brisbane, IP is Australia’s most innovative independent publisher. It publishes about 24 titles per year and is one of the few independents regularly supported by the Australia Council.

IP’s Director, the noted author Dr David Reiter, whose most recent books are Primary Instinct, a satire on the education system, and the children’s novel Global Cooling, will spearhead the tour, which will also showcase New Zealand authors Iain Britton’s new poetry collection Liquefaction and Euan McCabe’s sports memoir The World Cup Baby.

For more information regarding Voyagers or to schedule an interview before the tour begins, please email info@ipoz.biz or call +61 (0)7 3324 9319. During the tour, Dr Reiter can be contacted via SMS to his mobile +61 (0)412 313 923 or email to reiterdr1@me.com.

Completed Events

The 2008 HeadworX/ESAW Winter Readings Series finished on Wednesday night with another good session, the highlight of which for me was hearing Marilyn Duckworth read her poetry. I knew of her abilities as a novelist, but as this session made clear, she’s a fine poet as well. All the other poets taking part – Bill Dacker, Michael O’Leary (launching his new collection Paneta Street) and Marilyn Duckworth and Nelson Wattie reading from the new collection of love poems by Meg and Alistair Te Ariki Campbell – were fine as well, and the night concluded with an audience sing-along to a mashup of the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun” and “Hey Jude”, then copious and well-merited thanks to all those who have contributed to the continuing success of the series.

New Zealand Book Month was launched last Sunday (I attended the launch as a volunteer – I’m not sure I contributed much, but I had some lovely conversations), and the authors selected for inclusion in The Six Pack Three were announced: Sue Wootton, Marisa Maepu, Ian Mackenzie, David Geary, Aroha Harris, and Kate Duignan. Congratulations to them all!

Current Favourites

As a followup to The Good Book Guide’s article on the author photos taken by renowned photographer Miriam Berkley comes another testament to her work, and to the power of the author photo.

Also at The Good Books Guide is this powerful article on the uses of fiction by Preeta Samarasan.

Perhaps I shouldn’t call it a “current favourite”, since I haven’t read it yet, but I am looking forward to reading The White Road and Other Stories by Tania Hershman, who runs The Short Review. (It’s published by Salt Publishing, and should become available in this corner of the world in due course.) As a connoisseur of genre distinctions, who has the countervailing desire to obliterate those distinctions, I am especially intrigued by the distinction she draws between “science fiction” and “science-inspired fiction”.

Coming Attractions

I don’t really have a plan for this blog, other than a rough rule of thumb that about half the posts should be about my writing, and half about other people’s. All the same, over the next six weeks or so, I expect to bring you:

Three interviews with New Zealand authors, all of whom have, or have just had, books being published.
This blog’s first guest post.
A tantalising peek at my tastes in music. (Note: the definition of “tantalising” may vary according to the perspective of the observer.)
A little literary archaeology: I’ve written and edited other books besides the three featured here so far. Come with me back, baaack to where it all began!
A post about how various leading fantasy writers have handled theological issues in their work – to wit, Philip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. This was sparked off by a comment from Mike Crowl on my earlier post, Is Literary Fiction a Genre?.

And finally …

Another good review of Transported! This one’s by Mike Crowl, and I found it on bookstove.com (not sure whether it started life there, or comes from somewhere else). Mike says:

Tim Jones’ Transported is a pleasant surprise. None of the tales have that kind of super-seriousness about them that’s typical of NZ short stories. Instead, they’re an intriguing mix of tongue-in-cheek, subtle humour, history turned inside out, and sci-fi.

There’s more in the full review on Bookstove.

Tag: New Zealand Book Month

Voyagers Book Tour: Who Is Reading Where?

Completed Events, Current Favourites and Coming Attractions