Interview: Aotearoa NZ Poet Laureate David Eggleton

Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poet Laureate David Eggleton is well known throughout the land for his  engaging and dynamic  readings, often performed with a quick-fire delivery and utilising words and language that deliver a constant stream  of images. Described by reviewers as a jazz-bop-beatnik poet, David has so far released over 18 books of poetry, not to mention books on the New Zealand music scene and photography.

During his long and illustrious career David has won numerous awards and accolades such as The Robert Burn’s Fellowship, won “on five separate occasions” the Montana New Zealand Book Awards Book Reviewer of the Year, has been awarded the PEN Best First Book of Poetry award, as well as taking part in the slightly more unusual Ranters Cup and the Poetry Olympics. He is the only New Zealander to have won the London Time Out’s Street Entertainer of the Year. In addition, David has produced several short films, CDs and documentaries. David was appointed the New Zealand Poet Laureate in 2019 and has also received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Poetry.

Just recently he has undertaken a nationwide tour with the Mad Doggerel Cabaret featuring fellow poet Daren Kamali co-founder of the South Auckland Poets’ Collective. Daren  is also a highly accomplished performance poet, as well as a musician. Daren Kamali’s works are often based on Polynesian and Pasifika legends and his own life story, with  the final part of the Mad Doggerel Cabaret trio being Dunedin-based classical guitarist Richard Wallis .

In the Mad Doggerel Cabaret the trio present a lyrical, vivid, and lightning-fast comic portrait of Aotearoa New Zealand and its place in the South Pacific today.

You can catch a special free performance of the Mad Doggerel Cabaret  at the National Library Wellington on  Friday 26 August  to celebrate National Poetry Day. Find more details of their national tour here.

When David agreed to be interviewed about his latest venture, his time as poet laureate and his poetry career in general, we jumped at the chance. We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to David for taking time out of his busy schedule and for such a fabulous, fascinating, and informative interview.

This interview was done in conjunction with Caffeine and Aspirin, the arts and entertainment review show on Radioactive FM. You can hear the full interview, as well as find a wide selection of David’s poems available to borrow, below:

 

Keep an eye open for our other fantastic National Poetry day online readings coming soon.

Time of the icebergs : poems / Eggleton, David
“Much of Time of the Icebergs was written while David Eggleton was a Writer-in-Residence at the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland in 2009. These are poems about the world we live in, tracing a dystopian present ‘hurtling globalisation’s highway’ where ‘Google tells Google that Google saves’. As he says ‘I think of it as a collection for browsing and discovering things: soundscapes, seascapes, landscapes, contemporary politics and contemporary people, histories, traditions, and other things besides.'” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.

The conch trumpet / Eggleton, David
“The Conch Shell calls to the scattered tribes of contemporary New Zealand. It sounds the signal to listen closely, critically and ‘in alert reverie’. David Eggleton’s reach of references, the marriage of high and low, the grasp of popular and classical allusion, his eye both for cultural trash and epiphanic beauty, make it seem as if here Shakespeare shakes down in the Pacific. There are dazzling compressions of history; astonishing paens to harbours, mountains, lakes and rivers; wrenchingly dark, satirical critiques of contemporary politics, of solipsism, narcissism, the apolitical, the corporate, with a teeming vocabulary to match …” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Fast talker / Eggleton, David
“This dynamic poetry collection combines punchy political and social awareness with tender observations of everyday life. Embracing a wide variety of subjects, these poems constantly shift in tone and rhythm, ranging from hard-hitting “rants” on the South Pacific, the media, big business, war, and capitalism to gentle lyricisms on love, travel, and the landscapes that the author calls home. Part showman patter, part incantation, part prophetic diatribe, these writings display an energetic and witty style that masterfully merges forceful images with inventive language.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Empty orchestra / Eggleton, David
“”Lyrics from a karaoke bard, raps and chants about the place and the people, gestures towards the ultimate poem – Empty Orchestra is a personal diary, of a public history, a demographic pie chart, a vision thing. It says that nowadays we are so saturated with media – layer upon layer – that all we have to go on, in an age of fragmentation, are misreadings, misunderstandings, collective delusions, individual obsessions. The karaoke machine is a pre-eminent cross-cultural symbol.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Ready to fly / Eggleton, David
“A survey and celebration of 50 years of New Zealand popular music. Jammed full of photos, and with a colourful and exuberant text, it is the first book on New Zealand popular music published in 15 years.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

 

Into the light : a history of New Zealand photography / Eggleton, David
“Into the Light is a serious, but readable history of photography in New Zealand. It provides a comprehensive survey of New Zealand’s most significant photographers and is aimed at a general audience. The photographers featured include early colonial professionals such as the Burton Brothers, George Valentine, and William and Fred Tyree, along with those documenting New Zealand’s burgeoning identity in the twentieth Centurey, such as John Pascoe during World War II and the gritty, authentic photography of Les Cleveland. Current senior practioners, such as Marti Friedlander, Peter Peryer, Ans Westra, Anne Noble and Laurence Aberhart all are represented, along with more contemporary practitioners such as Fiona Pardington, Gavin Hipkins and Yvonne Todd.”(Adapted from Catalogue)

Towards Aotearoa : a short history of 20th century New Zealand art / Eggleton, David
“A handsome hardback illustrated collection of the very best examples of art (painting, sculpture, printmaking and photography) produced in New Zealand over 100 years from 1901 to 2001. David Eggleton gives a short, informative and accessible history of NZ art to accompany his selection of 101 artworks.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

Vunimaqo and me : mango tree collections / Kamali, Daren
“This collection centres on a mango tree – Vunimaqo – that was the focal point of his youth. Vunimaqo stands by the Tubou Street Barracks, Samabula North, Suva, Fiji … at the intersection of a community’s life, overseeing and sharing the stories of its people … A collection of poems, coupled with images that deepen the words, channelling the many voices and the stories of those who found connections and shelter by the mango tree” ( adapted from Catalogue)

 

Squid out of water : the evolution / Kamali, Daren
“Honoring the Pacific Ocean and its many cultures and stories, Squid Out of Water is the second poetry collection of Daren Kamali, a poet, artist, and teacher of Fijian and Wallis and Futuna descent.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

 

 

Niu voices
“Niu Voices: Contemporary Pacific Fiction 1 is a collection of poetry, short stories and novel extracts by selected Pacific writers, edited by Dr. Selina Tusitala Marsh, lecturer in English at the University of Auckland. Niu, the life-giving coconut of Pacific nations, has become symbolic of many styles that are growing in Aotearoa New Zealand, but rooted in island soils. These Pacific influences flavour creativity and strengthen the fibre of Pacific cultures and customs as lived in this new/niu context. They tell stories of New Zealand homes, of love, relationships and identity.” (Adapted from Catalogue)