Birdspeak is Arihia Latham’s debut collection of poems (published by Anahera Press) where birdcall and nature resound throughout the collection.
In many ways the book is a beautiful and poignant culmination of all the life experiences and places – physical, spiritual and intellectual – that have influenced and created Arihia as a creator up to this moment in time. Life experiences such as being an advocate for Māori and Pāpātuanuku, being a rongoā practitioner, as a māmā, as Kāi Tahu and her life as a creator.
This beautiful collection of poetry is both political and personal, tender and fierce. That weaves in the subjects, such as dismantling the patriarchy and its gender binary and decolonising / re-indigenising our history, as well subtly balancing tone and time, the universal and the everyday.
The collection is deeply steeped in Māori culture and is timed to be released to tie in with the Matariki celebrations.
The collection will be launched on Wednesday 12th July 6pm at Unity Books
When the opportunity to interview Arihia about Birdspeak and her creative practice arose, we jumped at it! We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Arihia for taking the time to answer our questions; for providing such an illuminating insight into her creative life, world and work; and also, for giving us a fabulous reading of the title poem ‘Birdspeak’.
Artwork by Natalie Couch. All art used in this interview is by kind permission and strictly copyrighted.
You can watch the video of our interview below, or on our YouTube channel.
Arihia Latham (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) is a writer, rongoā practitioner and cultural advisor. Her work has been widely published and anthologised in publications such as Huia, Landfall, Oranui, Foodcourt, Te Whē, Awa Wāhine, The Spinoff and Pantograph Punch.
She has presented at Verb festival, NZ Festival of the Arts and Te Hā and is a regular arts columnist for The Post and recently featured in the Lōemis festival reading poetry on a beach by firelight under the stars. She lives with her whānau in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Arihia’s collection Birdspeak will be available to borrow from the library soon.
Huia short stories 7 : contemporary Māori fiction
“This collection of short stories and novel extracts follows the 2007 Pikihuia Awards for Maori Writers. The biennial awards and their subsequent publications have become well-known and much-anticipated, as they bring more undiscovered gems to the attention of the reading public. This years awards were judged by James George, Barry Barclay, Kelly Ana Morey and Wena Harawira.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Huia short stories 10 : contemporary Māori fiction
“Here are the best short stories and novel extracts from the Pikihuia Awards for Maori writers 2013 as judged by Sir Mason Durie, Hana O’Regan and Reina Whaitiri. The book contains the stories from the finalists for Best Short Story written in English, Best Short Story written in Maori and Best Novel Extract.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Vā : stories by women of the moana
“Stories that tell Covid how we really feel, where a centipede god watches on with wry humour and wrath, where a sexy Samoan goes on a hot Tinder date in Honolulu, where a New Zealand doctor is horrified to be stuck at her cousin’s kava drink up in Fiji, where moana people travel the stars and navigate planets, stories where ancestors and atua live and breathe. Stories that defy colonial boundaries, and draw on the storytelling and oratory that is our inheritance. Immerse yourself in the intrigue, fantasy, humour and magic of beautiful strong stories by 38 writers from across the moana.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the fabulous Wellington Writers Walk, we’ve taken a closer look at just a few of the authors represented. In this blog we take a look at Patricia Grace’s sculpture, which features a quote taken from Cousins, Penguin Books, 1992
I love this city, the hills, the harbour, the
wind that blasts through it. I love
the life and pulse and activity, and the
warm decrepitude … there’s always an edge
here that one must walk which is sharp
and precarious, requiring vigilance.
In the video below, local authors and Wellington Writers Walk Committee members Philippa Werry and Maggie Rainey-Smith explore Patricia Grace’s work – to be found between the bridge and the Kupe sculpture, next to The Boatshed and down the steps, or view it can be viewed from the top. They provide a fascinating insight into Patricia Grace’s work, life and creative process , and also celebrate her achievements, body of work and connections to Wellington.
From the centre : a writer’s life / Grace, Patricia
“With photographs and quotes from her many, hugely loved books, Patricia Grace begins with her grandparents and parents and takes us through her childhood, her education, marriage and up to the present day in this touching and self-deprecating story of her life, the life of a writer, of a Maori woman and of a teacher. It expresses the love for family and for ancestral land; shows the prejudices she had to face and that made her stronger; and tracks her career as a writer.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Cousins / Grace, Patricia
“Three cousins’ lives have followed very different paths, yet their struggles offer insightful glimpses into the lives of contemporary New Zealand women. The author records psychological, cultural and political circumstances that circumscribe their worlds.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Dogside story / Grace, Patricia
“Set in a rural Maori coastal community, the humour and aroha of the community are powerful life preserving factors. But there is conflict in the whanau. Te Rua is battling for custody of his daughter against his two aunts. But why are they disputing custody and what is really going on?” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Potiki / Grace, Patricia
“In New Zealand, white developers pressure a Maori family to let them build a tourist complex on the family’s land. The conflict is narrated by the woman of the house. Lots of native lore.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Baby no-eyes / Grace, Patricia
“Baby No-eyes is Te Paania’s first child, killed in a car crash before she even leaves the womb. Baby’s ghost returns to comfort Te Paania, and when Baby’s brother Tawera is born he takes her place in the world although she is always by his side.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The sky people / Grace, Patricia
“In this collection of stories, we meet the Sky People – those who are wounded in love or by circumstance and those who are unwanted or dispossessed; the challenge to human dignity and its redemption.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Chappy / Grace, Patricia
“Daniel is sent to New Zealand to sort himself out. He discovers the remarkable love story between his Maori grandmother and Japanese grandfather. Racial intolerance and cross-cultural conflicts are encountered in a story of enduring love.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Tu / Grace, Patricia
“Three brothers, a war and secrets. Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu — Tuboy, Tu Bear — is the family’s hope for the future. First chance he gets he becomes a soldier, and finds there’s no place he’d rather be than with his battalion. Some years later, a niece and nephew come looking for answers. It is time for revelations.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Recently at Karori Library, we had the rare opportunity to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Wellington Writers Walk the iconic waterfront walk. This very special event featured two of New Zealand’s most celebrated authors, Elizabeth Knox and Dame Fiona Kidman, who were interviewed by author, broadcaster and Writers Walk committee member Tanya Ashcroft. During this wide-ranging conversation, Elizabeth Knox and Dame Fiona Kidman talked about the creation and future of this wonderful Wellington institution, as well as the part they’ve played in making the walk the much-loved success it is.
The event has now passed into history, but with the participants and Writer’s Walk committee permission we were able to film the proceedings and are now proud to present a video of the evening.
For anyone unfamiliar, this walk along Wellington’s beautiful waterfront pedestrian precinct is considered by many as “one of the world’s loveliest urban land-and-seascapes”. It consists of sculptural quotations situated in picturesque locations from the writings of a selection of iconic New Zealand authors – both past and contemporary. The walk celebrates and commemorates the place of Wellington in these writers’ lives, and their place in the life of Wellington.
Writers on the walk include: Katherine Mansfield, Robin Hyde, Pat Lawlor, Denis Glover, James K. Baxter, Bruce Mason, Lauris Edmond, Maurice Gee, Patricia Grace, Vincent O’Sullivan, Barbara Anderson, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Eileen Duggan, Bill Manhire and our very special guests Dame Fiona Kidman and Elizabeth Knox.
We wish to extend our most heartfelt thanks to Elizabeth Knox, Dame Fiona Kidman and Tanya Ashcroft. We’d also like to thank Karori Library and its staff and The Wellington Writers walk committee for making this very special event happen.
You can now view the video below or visit our You Tube channel.
The Wellington Writers Walk is a project of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc.
Below is a very small selection of Elizabeth Knox and Fiona Kidman titles available to borrow.
So far, for now : on journeys, widowhood and stories that are never over / Kidman, Fiona
“Evocative, wry and thought-provoking, this is a rewarding journey with one of our finest writers. It is a little over a decade since Fiona Kidman wrote her last volume of memoir. But her story did not end on its last page; instead her life since has been busier than ever, filled with significant changes, new writing and fascinating journeys. From being a grandmother to becoming a widow, from the suitcase-existence of book festivals to researching the lives and deaths of Jean Batten and Albert Black, she has found herself in new territory and viewed the familiar with fresh eyes. ” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.
The absolute book / Knox, Elizabeth
“Taryn Cornick believes that the past is behind her – her sister’s death by violence, and her own ill-conceived revenge. She has chosen to live a life more professional than personal. She has written a book about the things that threaten libraries – insects, damp, light, fire, carelessness and uncaring. The book is a success, but not all of the attention it brings her is good. There are questions about a fire in the library at Princes Gate, her grandparents’ house, and about an ancient scroll box known as the Firestarter. A policeman, Jacob Berger, has questions about a cold case. There are threatening phone calls. And a shadowy young man named Shift appears, bringing his shadows with him. Taryn, Jacob, Shift – three people are driven towards a reckoning felt in more than one world.” (Adapted from Catalogue) This mortal boy / Kidman, Fiona
“Albert Black, known as the ‘jukebox killer’, was only twenty when he was convicted of murdering another young man in a fight at a milk bar in Auckland on 26 July 1955. His crime fuelled growing moral panic about teenagers, and he was to hang less than five months later, the second-to-last person to be executed in New Zealand. But what really happened? Was this a love crime, was it a sign of juvenile delinquency? Or was this dark episode in our recent history more about our society’s reaction to outsiders.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook Dreamhunter / Knox, Elizabeth
“Fast-paced and dazzlingly imaginative, Dreamhunter will draw the reader into an extraordinary fictional world in which dreams are as vividly described as the cream cakes in the tea shop, the sand on the beach or teenage first love.Set in 1906, Dreamhunter describes a world very similar to ours, except for a special place, known simply as The Place, where only a select group of people can go. These people are called Dreamhunters and they harvest dreams which are then transmitted to the general public for the purposes of entertainment, therapy – or terror and political coercion.Fifteen-year-old cousins Laura Hame and Rose Tiebold both come from famous dreamhunting families, but only Laura proves to be blessed with the gift and once inside The Place she finds out what happened to her missing dreamhunter father and reveals how the government has used dreams to control an ever-growing population of convicts and political dissenters.” (Adapted from Catalogue) All the way to summer : stories of love and longing / Kidman, Fiona
“Fiona Kidman’s early stories about New Zealand women’s experiences scandalised readers with their vivid depictions of the heartbreaks and joys of desire, illicit liaisons and unconventional love. Her writing made her a feminist icon in the early 1980s, and she has since continued to tell the realities of women’s lives, her books resonating with many readers over the years and across the world. To mark her 80th birthday, this volume brings together a variety of her previously published stories as well as several that are new or previously uncollected; all moving, insightful and written with love. The final stories trace her own history of love, a memoir of significant people from childhood and beyond.” (Adapted from Catalogue) The angel’s cut / Knox, Elizabeth
” Boomtown Los Angeles, 1929: Into a world of movie lots and speakeasies comes Xas, stunt flier and wingless angel, still nursing his broken heart, and determined only to go on living in the air. But there are forces that will keep him on the ground. Forces like Conrad Cole, movie director and aircraft designer, a glory-seeking king of the grand splash who is also a man sinking into his own sovereign darkness. And Flora McLeod, film editor and maimed former actress, who sees something in Xas that no one has ever seen before, not even God, who made him, or Lucifer, the general he once followed – Lucifer, who has lost Xas once, but won’t let that be the end of it. ” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook. The infinite air / Kidman, Fiona
“Jean Batten became an international icon in the 1930s. A brave, beautiful woman, she made a number of heroic solo flights across the world. The newspapers couldn’t get enough of her; and yet she suddenly slipped out of view, disappearing to the Caribbean with her mother and dying in obscurity in Majorca, buried in a pauper’s grave.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.
The vintner’s luck / Knox, Elizabeth
“One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family’s vineyard when he stumbles on an angel. Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character. Compelling and erotic, The Vintner’s Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighboring chateau.” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an Audiobook.
To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the fabulous Wellington Writers Walk, we’ve taken a closer look at just a few of the authors represented. In this blog we take a look at Bill Manhire’s typographical sculpture, which features a quote taken from ‘Milky Way Bar’ in Milky Way Bar, Victoria University Press, 1991
I live at the edge of the universe, like everybody else.
In the video below, local authors and Wellington Writers Walk Committee members Philippa Werry and Maggie Rainey-Smith explore Manhire’s work, to be found overlooking the water by the bridge, near the Hikitia floating crane. They provide a fascinating insight into Bill Manhire’s work life and creative process, and also celebrate his continuing achievements, body of work and connections to Wellington.
Milky Way bar / Manhire, Bill
“Collection of award winning Bill Manhire poetry first released in 1992. Which includes his Wellington Writers Walk poem ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Selected poems / Manhire, Bill
“This generous selection of Bill Manhire’s poems moves from playful early pieces like “On Originality” and “How to Take off Your Clothes at the Picnic” to major works of recent years such as “Hotel Emergencies”–a powerful response to contemporary atrocities–and “Erebus Voices”–written to be read by Sir Edmund Hillary at the 25th anniversary of the Mt. Erebus tragedy. The poems featured in this definitive collection of New Zealand’s most important poet are deceptively simple, often funny, and always revelatory of his own and his country’s history.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
South Pacific / Manhire, Bill
“”In this lively, humorous and original book, the romance of the Pacific confronts the truth about that paradise. The stories include a do-it-yourself murder mystery an assassination attempt on the Queen, the hilarious account of a Writers’ Congress in Kuala Lumpur, and an unsettling, futuristic tale from 1999.” “Set in New Zealand and its environs, several of the pieces were first collected in The New Land, which won the 1990 Buckland Award for the best work of literature published in New Zealand. In South Pacific Bill Manhire has added view tales and other work. A vein of satire runs through his stories. Yet rooted as many of them are in a particular place and time, the laughter they generate is anything but local.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The victims of lightning / Manhire, Bill
“Building on previous themes and introducing some new techniques, this collection reveals a respected poet at the height of his powers. Here are finely crafted lyrics, found poems, a bracket of songs, and complex emotions–all tempered by the use of humor.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Wow / Manhire, Bill
“Excuse me if I laugh. The roads are dark and large books block our path. The air we breathe is made of evening air. The world is longer than the road that brings us here. Bill Manhire’s new book begins with the song of an extinct bird, the huia, and journeys on into troubling futures. These poems reach for the possibilities of lyric, even as their worlds are being threatened in a range of agitating ways. In the title poem we hear a baby say Wow to life and to the astonishing prospect of language; but almost immediately we hear the world reply: Also. Along the way there are several desperate jokes. ” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The stories of Bill Manhire / Manhire, Bill
“Collects the stories from The New Land : A Picture Book (1990) and the stories added to South Pacific (1994) and Songs of My Life (1996). In addition there are previously uncollected and unpublished stories, the choose-your-own-adventure novella The Brain of Katherine Mansfield (1988), and the memoir Under the Influence (2003).” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Lifted / Manhire, Bill
“An award-winning collection exploring the plight of the secular spirit in the face of mortality and human violence, this work demonstrates a poet writing at the height of his powers.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Some things to place in a coffin / Manhire, Bill
“Bill Manhire’s first new collection of poems for seven years takes its title from his elegy for his close friend the painter Ralph Hotere, who died in 2013. At its heart is the sequence ‘Known Unto God’, commissioned by the BBC for the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in 2016. These are poems of memory and mortality, which are also full of jokes and good tunes.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Local recording studio Sandbox Studio is the best kept secret in the Wellington Music scene, but word is spreading far and wide, and a growing number of artists are coming from all over the country and even across the Tasman to record their sound with Sandbox Studio.
This uniquely located studio was once the living room of the apartment next door, which was built for the owner as a city crash pad. The Penthouse extension which now houses Sandbox Studio was built in the early ’70s but had been abandoned, and was essentially unoccupied for the best part of 10 years or so, before engineer Benni Krueger & musician Jon Lemmon took on the lease in 2016. Initially planned as an art and music space, it eventually became a shared music space, before evolving into a professional recording studio.
For New Zealand Music Month we are premiering a retrospective look at Sandbox Studio, with a feature-length video comprising multiple retrospective interviews conducted over several time periods, along with archival video footage and photos representing the evolution of the studio and its equipment over time. Now jointly run by studio engineers Benni Krueger and Peter Molteno, we talked with studio co-founders Benni, Daniela Mogin and Lorenzo Buhne about how they came to be involved in the studio’s creation, the building of their unique isolation booth, their thoughts on the Wellington music scene, and many other topics.
Today Sandbox Studio is one of Wellington’s top recording studios — a streamlined, professional powerhouse with a fast-paced turnover. In the time since we filmed some of these segments, Sandbox Studio has worked with over 100 new artists and have made significant improvements to the space, equipment, and workflow.
This feature is a snapshot of the studio in its infancy rather than how it is represented today, but it tells the fascinating story of how three people from completely different backgrounds and different countries came together to create something unique and special for the local music scene in Wellington.
Bethany G. Rogers debut short story collection Kaleidoscopes in the Dark is a collection of twisted fairy tales and more modern dark themed tales that primarily draw on the English gothic tradition.
The book is full of black humour, macabre events and radical reimagining’s of traditional folktales. Her work has been compared to the writing of Angela Carter, the adult work of Roald Dahl (especially his Tales of the unexpected series) and even the darker elements of Dickens. Many of the more modern stories will also enchant fans of the TV show Black Mirror. Readers can expect unexpected twists and turns at every juncture and to be surprised and drawn into each tale. It is a delightfully, frightful short read.
The collection took eleven years to write and was helped to completion by Creative New Zealand and The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc’s mentorship programme for emerging writers.
Bethany G. Rogers lives in Queenstown and originally hails from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. Many of the stories are influenced by her Northeast England upbringing.
So, when we got the opportunity to interview the Bethany G. Rogers about her Kaleidoscopes in the Dark, we jumped at it!
We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Bethany G. Rogers for taking the time to answer our questions about Kaleidoscopes in the Dark and her writing practice, and for providing such an illuminating insight into her world and work.
You can watch this fascinating and insightful interview below, or by visiting our YouTube channel here.
Kaleidoscopes in the Dark / Rogers, B. G
“Bethany G. Rogers debut short story collection Kaleidoscopes in the Dark is a collection of twisted fairy tales and more modern dark themed tales that primarily draw on the English gothic tradition. Full of black humour, macabre events and radical reimagining’s of traditional folktales. Her work has been compared to the writing of Angela Carter, the adult work of Roald Dhal’s (especially his Tales of the unexpected series) and even the darker elements of Dickens, many of the more modern stories will also enchant fans of the Black Mirror TV show.” ( Adapted from Catalogue)
