Writing Courses from Janice Marriott
March 2023 Newsletter
I received a gift of a beautiful poetry book from a client this week. The stamp on the envelope was this one. Very appropriate. It is Katherine Mansfield’s centenary year. Let us all celebrate it by reading At the Bay or The Daughters of the Late Colonel, or, of course, any of your favourite stories.
Thank you Rebecca Morris for this response to my sunflower piece from the last newsletter:
“It reminded me of something one of my students wrote years ago. She’d come back from a family holiday in New Orleans after that awful hurricane – Katrina – she commented that amongst all the devastation there were sunflowers popping up.”
Mentoring
Over the last few months I’ve had enquiries from clients who have finished a course, or a series of assessments, and want to develop a mentoring relationship with me. I am always delighted to continue reading and commenting on any client’s later work. If any others of you want details about how to be mentored by me just email me and I will explain the process.
For those who write memoir
A superb memoir I’e read this rainy summer:The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw
This book about a remarkable life, and about books, and about people in bookshops, is written by a woman who owns and runs three bookshops at Manapouri.
Search out reviews on Google and you will see why it is riveting, charming, funny and an example to you all of a book by a first time New Zealand writer who has suddenly become an international bestseller. It is possible…
And an equally astonishing one, but in a different way:
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glencommer. It horrified me in parts. It made me laugh. It astonished me on every page.
*For those who write poetry
Learning a poem by heart is a great way to thoroughly understand a poem, to see a poet’s word choice, rhythm, meaning. The poem becomes a part of you. It is also a way to strengthen the memory. It can strengthen friendships too if you organise to recite your poem to a friend and they share theirs with you. These websites, below, encourage people to do just this. poetrybyheart.org.uk
And, m favourite, The BBC 100 Collection. On both of these sites you’ll find people reading poems.
Events
*At Verb Wellington you could hear UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage on 11–12 March. There are two events and both are free.
*Poetry workshop with Richard von Sturmer
10am-1pm, Sat, 25 March, Calliope Scouts Hall, 25 King Edward Avenue, Devonport
“Being attentive to the present moment, to the natural world and to our own nature, is essential for good, poetic writing. In this workshop we will explore haiku and tanka, forms of Japanese poetry now widely practised in the West. Writing haiku gives us a way of responding to what is happening around us, while tanka adds a personal, imaginative dimension. As part of the workshop we will also look at key aspects of Japanese poetry such as yūgen (mystery and depth), sabi-wabi (the transient and the imperfect) and mono no aware (a deep feeling for the things of this world.)”
Poem of the Month
The most appropriate poem this month has to be by Hone Tuwhare: REIGN RAIN
Neither juggernaut
man
nor crawling thing
with saintliness and ease
can bring
a mountain weeping
to its knees
quicker than rain:
that demure leveller
ocean-blessed
cloud-sent
maker of plains.
Congratulations to James Norcliffe who has won the Storylines 2023 Margaret Mahy Medal,
AND been shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award for Adult Fiction
AND the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
It’s been a big year for James.
If any of you would like to attend the presentation of his medal and his lecture it is on Sunday 2nd April 2 pm at the Epsom Avenue entrance to the University of Auckland campus – used to be Teachers’ College. There’s always afternoon tea. It’s a good place for you to network. Joy Cowley will also be there, talking about writing for children.
Heard this word before?
Tenebrose – dark mysterious, also metaphorical as in culturally depleted or morally dark,
Writers use words as knitters use wool and bakers use flour. Make sure you keep a full cupboard of words.
Send the GWN newsletter any interesting words you come across so we can all grow our vocabularies like newly-planted vegetables.
For the Writers for Children
To quote from the judges report of the shortlist for the NZ Booklovers Awards – just announced:
“Kidnap At Mystery Island by Carol Garden: ‘Set in a time after the great global Environment Revolution of 2072, readers enter a high-tech world of eco criminals, artificial islands, global warming, rising seas, and patrolling coastal rangers. With a richly imagined world and strong characters that break the mould, this exciting, action-packed novel will grip readers from the very first page.’”
This book was a winner of the Tom Fitzgibbon Award and should inspire as yet unpublished writers.
Event
The Storylines Saturday Sessions
1.00 – 4.30pm
Saturday 25 March
St Mary’s College, Ponsonby, Auckland.
Storylines members: $40 per session / $100 for three sessions
Non-Storylines members: $50 per session / $130 for three sessions
From 1 to 2 pm Carolyn Lagahetau (Editorial Director, Oratia Books) and Catherine O’Loughlin (Children’s Publisher, Penguin Random House NZ) will discuss children’s publishing in conversation with author Weng Wai Chan.
Other workshops that afternoon will be led by Graci Kim, Paula Morris, Sally Sutton, Maria Gill, Sue Copsey.
More details on the Storylines website.
Something to worry about
In the US Pen America found that 2,532 books were banned during the 2021-22 school year, most of which feature characters of color or L.G.B.T.Q.+ characters. And those are only the known ban statistics: administrators have also been discovered to be quietly taking books off the shelves of school libraries all across the country.
Wet books aren’t good books.
If you would like to donate to communities in need of new books please visit this website:
https://www.kiwichristmasbooks.org.nz/
Tip of the Month
When you are feeling overwhelmed, just choose the smallest first step and begin there.
So if you want to write a story or poem or article or birthday greeting or account of your day or description of someone – just start. Plunge in. Give yourself a 50-word goal: you’ll probably exceed it, but beginning is the hardest part.
