Blog Archives
The Wide White Page: Writers Imagine Antarctica ed Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $34.95, ISBN 0864734859 When the explorers in John Martin Leahy’s “In Amundsen’s Tent” scrambled into the tent the Norwegian left after his foray to the South Pole,…
On Writing Hit Songs Simon Morris Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237573 Biography of a Local Palate David Burton Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237581 Under the Influence Bill Manhire Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237565 Reviewing three books at…
They knew how to die in the old Icelandic sagas. In Grettir’s Saga a man called Atli Asmundarson gets a spear through the stomach. He looks down in surprise, and then – in the middle of a 10th-century wilderness…
Collected Poems 1967-1999 Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, ISBN 086473411 (paperback), $34.95 ISBN 0864734212 (hardback) $49.95 In this Collected Poems, the private universe of Bill Manhire is made readily available to his ever-increasing audience. But it may take years and…
Spectacular Babies ed Bill Manhire HarperCollins, $24.95, ISBN 1869503775 Boys’ Own Stories: Short Stories by New Zealand Men ed Graeme Lay Tandem Press, $24.95, ISBN 1877178691 Five years ago, I remember jumping up and down in frustration in front of…
James Brown interviews Bill Manhire James Brown (JB): Accessible but elusive. A lot of people seem to like your poetry, but find it difficult. How conscious are you, when you write, of an audience? In other words, do you ever…
Doubtful Sounds: Essays and Interviews Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $34.95, ISBN 0 86473 370 4 The Canadian poet Douglas Barbour once wrote that Bill Manhire’s poetry displays a “duplicitous unwillingness to guarantee anything”, a feature he felt to be…
What to call your child Bill Manhire Godwit, $29.95, ISBN 1 86962 044 5 This attractive volume marks the end of Bill Manhire’s two-year term as the Te Mata Estate Poet Laureate. Because he has lived the role out so…
Homelight Nigel Brown, Bill Manhire, Chris Orsman Pemmican Press, $12.00 ISBN 0 47305149 4 13 Ways Harry Ricketts Pemmican Press, $14.95 ISBN 0 47304881 7 Natsukashii Ingrid Horrocks Pemmican Press, $14.95 ISBN 0 47305139 7 Black South Chris Orsman Pemmican…
Mutes & Earthquakes: Bill Manhire’s Creative Writing Course at Victoria University ed Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $34.95, ISBN 0 86473 318 6 In his 1965 book on Picasso, John Berger said: “Events in our century occur on a global…
“Aha – data reduction!” James Brown
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