Meet the Poets: Katūīvei launch this Friday at Newtown!

Our Katūīvei Pasifika Poetry Readings event is almost here, so we thought we’d introduce you to some of the talented poets who will be reading at the event! Join us on Friday at Te Puna Waiora Newtown Library, 6-7pm for a dynamic night of contemporary poetry readings to celebrate the launch of this exciting new book (published by Massey University Press) hosted by former Poet Laureate and editor David Eggleton.

Karlo Mila MNZM is a Pasifika writer and poet of Tongan (the villages of Kolofo’ou and Ofu), as well as Samoan and Pākehā descent. Her first collection, Dream Fish Floating (Huia, 2005) won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry at the 2006 New Zealand Post Book Awards. She has subsequently published two further poetry collections, also with Huia: A Well Written Body (2008) and Goddess Muscle (2020).

 

Maringikura Mary Campbell lives in Pukerua Bay in the old family home with her whānau. She is the mother of three sons and four mokopuna. Identity, loss, tūpuna and wairua are common themes in her writing. She is not a prolific writer, but rather writes when a poem is given or there is fire in her belly.

 

 

Rob Hack was born in Invercargill and is of Cook Island and Kiwi heritage. He had an awesome childhood on Niue and after several forays around Australia now lives on the Kāpiti Coast. He runs two weekly creative writing classes at Te Ara Korowai in Raumati Beach and hosts a monthly radio show on Te Pae called Not at the Table: Poetry and Stuff. He is researching and writing about the life and times of Papa (Sir) Tom Davis.

 

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Janis Freegard and Reading the Signs: Poetry and soundscape performance recording

I am blue. I am a deep, electric shade of blue and I sound like waves crashing. My colour is so intense it has substance even though it lacks mass.

Excerpt from Perhaps the spider on my pillow is spinning me a dream by Janis Freegard

The acclaimed Wellington-based poet, novelist and short story writer Janis Freegard is regarded as one of the most unique and distinctive voices in the New Zealand literary World at the moment. Recently, she gave a live experimental poetry reading at the Twin Rivers Bookshop in Miramar, accompanied by soundscape visual artist and Wellington City Libraries’ Librarian, Neil Johnstone.

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Villainous Newtown: crime writers author talk 22 March

 

The Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with Wellington City Libraries, invites booklovers to an unmissable crime and thriller event coming up, as part of the build up to the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards.

The event features two Ngaio Marsh Award winners, one finalist and one of the hottest debut crime writers around!

When: Friday 22 March 6.00 – 7.00pm

Where: Newtown Library

Villainous Newtown Ngaio Marsh Awards Facebook Event

This is a free event, featuring:

Debut author and 2024 entrant Nick Davies, author of El Flamingo

Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel finalist and 2024 entrant Kim Hunt, author of The Quarry

Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel winner Jennifer Lane, author of Miracle

and, rounding this incredible panel off:

Ngaio Marsh Best Novel winner 2023 Charity Norman, author of Remember Me

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Katherine Mansfield Centenary Event with author Redmer Yska

Last year was the centenary of Katherine Mansfield’s death and to mark the iconic writer’s legacy we held a special event at Te Māhanga Karori Library. Redmer Yska, author of ‘Katherine Mansfield’s Europe: Station to Station’, was joined by our Local & NZ History Specialist Gábor Tóth to deep dive into Mansfield’s words, travels and her Karori connections. Hear how Yska traced and pulled together letters, journals and research to compile this fascinating insight into Mansfield that acts as part travelogue, part literary biography, part detective story and part ghost story. 

Redmer Yska is an award-winning writer and historian based in Wellington. ‘Katherine Mansfield’s Europe: Station to Station’ is Yska’s second book on the iconic writer, his first book on Mansfield ‘A Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington’ was shortlisted for the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

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Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts: Writer events

We’re super excited to see that our good friends at Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts‘ have now announced details their festival programme, which is now fast approaching. It is a rich and varied programme that has something for everyone and features a host of authors you can find in our collection!

Of particular interest to us at the library is of course their fabulous writers programme element! This broad and varied programme holds a mirror up to both society and us as individuals and considers the many ways reading and writing are so vital to us. The programme features some of the finest writers from our own fair land, as well as well-known names from across the globe, making the programme unmissable.

The Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts’ writers programme will take place mainly at the cinematic jewel that is the Embassy Theatre, and runs from 23 – 25 Feb.

Follow this link here for the full programme and booking details.

As an appetiser to this dynamic exchange of ideas and stories, we have curated a list of featured titles available to borrow from our collections, which you might like to read before you go to one of the events. Have a browse below at just a very small selection of the events available, grab a good read and go enjoy some great literary events!

Hiwa : contemporary Māori short stories
“Contemporary Māori short stories, featuring twenty-seven writers working in English or te reo Māori. The writers range from famous names and award winners – Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera, Whiti Hereaka, Becky Manawatu, Zeb Nicklin – to emerging voices like Shelley Burne-Field, Jack Remiel Cottrell, Anthony Lapwood and Colleen Maria Lenihan. Hiwa includes biographical introductions for each writer’s work. Named for Hiwa-i-te-rangi, the ninth star of Matariki, signifying vigorous growth and dreams of the year ahead.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Explore the event linked to this title here

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Katherine Mansfield centenary: Author talk with Redmer Yska

**Update:** Unfortunately our organised NZSL interpreter is no longer able to be at this event.

We apologise to anyone in our Deaf community who had been planning to attend — we will be recording and uploading this event to our YouTube channel, and providing subtitles for anyone who wishes to watch at a later date.


Join us for a special event on iconic writer Katherine Mansfield at Karori Library on Thursday November 30th, 6-7pm. (Facebook event)

Redmer Yska, author of ‘Katherine Mansfield’s Europe: Station to Station’ will be joined by our Local & NZ History Specialist Gábor Tóth to deep dive into Mansfield’s words, travels and her local Karori connection. Hear how Yska traced and pulled together letters, journals and research to compile this fascinating insight into Mansfield that acts as part travelogue, part literary biography, part detective story and part ghost story.

Redmer Yska is an award-winning writer and historian based in Wellington. ‘Katherine Mansfield’s Europe: Station to Station’ is Yska’s second book on the iconic writer, his first book on Mansfield ‘A Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington’ was shortlisted for the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Gábor Tóth is the Local & New Zealand History Specialist at Wellington City Libraries. He conducts research for both library customers and council staff as well as developing history resources such as the library’s heritage platform, Wellington City Recollect.

We anticipate this event will be very popular and will be seated on a first-come first-served basis, please arrive early to avoid any disappointment.