Bill Sewell (1951-2003) Bill Sewell achieved excellence in an unusually wide variety of areas. While versatility is sometimes the province of the amateur, this was not so with Bill, whose manifold fruiting branches sprang from a single and solid…
Fair-minded people like to see others given their due. That has been my experience, although I’ve often wondered about just what percentage of such fair-mindeds there are, especially in literary circles. Most writers I know have a list of other…
Allen Curnow (1911-2001) When did a wind of the extreme South before Mix autumn, spring and death? (“Elegy on My Father”, Allen Curnow, 1949) I cannot remember when I first encountered Allen Curnow’s poetry. It seems to have been…
Harry Orsman (1928 – 2002) In his fine eulogy at Harry Orsman’s funeral, Stuart Johnston considered the meanings we might take from “character”. He unravelled the word so that it extended far beyond the way we usually use it, and…
Lauris Edmond (1924 – 2000) Lauris Edmond died at home without warning on Friday 28 January 2000. We lost a major poet, an accomplished woman of letters, and a marvellous personality. The shock that united mourners in Old St Paul’s…
John Mansfield Thomson (1926-1999) John Mansfield Thomson, founding editor of New Zealand Books, died in Wellington Hospital on September 11, 1999. From the very first issue he gave this journal its authority and character, bringing to it his great skills…
Far and near: some thoughts on the poetry of Bill Sewell, Brian Turner
Fair-minded people like to see others given their due. That has been my experience, although I’ve often wondered about just what percentage of such fair-mindeds there are, especially in literary circles. Most writers I know have a list of other…
Posted in Comment, Obituaries