Creative Waikato Big Space
131 Alexandra St, Hamilton
Friday 25 August
1-2pm
Free
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Poets Bob Orr, Vaughan Rapatahana and Stephanie Christie will read their poems and talk about their writing at a National Poetry Day event.
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Bob Orr is the 2017 Writer in Residence at Waikato University. For the last 35-plus years he has worked full time on the water, most recently driving the pilot boat for Ports of Auckland. This year, for the first time, he’s able to write full time. Bob’s first book-length collection of poems was published in 1971, and he’s published eight in total. He has been published in Islands and Landfall and is represented in the Penguin (1985), Caxton (1987) and 1997 OUP anthologies. Last year he won the Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Poetry, a prize given biennially in recognition of a distinguished contribution to New Zealand poetry.
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Vaughan Rapatahana is very widely published across several genres and in several languages. He won the inaugural Proverse Poetry Prize last year and his latest poetry collection, Atonement, was nominated for a National Book Award in Philippines, where it was published by University of Santo Tomas Press. He has a brand new compilation of poems out soon, published in England, entitled Ternian.... and chapters he has written will appear in books published in New York (USA), Brazil and Malaysia during this year. Vaughan is a participant in the Writer in Schools programme.
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Stephanie Christie's books are Carbon Shapes and Dark Matter, The Facts of Light and Luce Cannon and she has 20 zines (self-published micro-books). Stephanie has voice recordings on the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre's Six Pack Sound. She has appeared at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival, Auckland University's Old Government House Lounge, The Wallace Gallery and Waikato University's Calder & Lawson Gallery.
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Books and zines will be available for sales and signing.
Bob Orr photo credit Alison Robertson.
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Poets
