Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day celebrates 20th anniversary with more than 100 events nationwide

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day offers its most ambitious and wide-ranging programme of events yet. On Friday August 25, the power of poetry will be unleashed and celebrated in communities all over New Zealand.

Announced today, this year’s packed programme features more than 100 dynamic and accessible events, workshops and competitions, featuring acclaimed poets, new voices, young writers, and poetry enthusiasts. From Slam Poetry to sonnets, from stages to pavements, poetry will be created and enjoyed in a myriad of venues around the country: cafes, bars, schools, university campuses, community centres, retirement villages, marae, libraries and theatres – as well as on buses, trains and ferries. 

In tandem with the many events taking place around New Zealand on August 25, is the publication of inaugural online poetry collection 20/20 – 40 poems by Kiwi poets. Featuring many of the nation’s most read and loved poets, including C. K. Stead and Tusiata Avia, 20/20 also showcases new voices that demand to be heard. Wanting to make poetry accessible to all New Zealanders, 20/20 will be free to download at website: http://www.nzbookawards.nz/national-poetry-day/20-20-collection/.

Among the many events taking place from Northland to Dunedin, are: Whangarei’syouth Wall of Words; Auckland’s The Divine Muses Poetry Reading, in the edifying company of 20/20 poets C. K. Stead, Simone Kaho and Paula Green, and Michael Giacon, Vana Manasiadis and Siobhan Harvey; live entertainment with comedy poetry troupe Theoradical Hobohemians, who perform at Shanghai Lil's on K Road; and Down South: Spoken Word and Rap Open Mic at MIT in Otara; Wellington’s ‘dropping words in to the sea’ at the National Library with Sea of Words – Your Words; Our Poets event; decorating a Poetry Fridge Door in Nelson; helping to build a Great Wall of Poetryin Christchurch; enjoying performance poetry with the multi-talented Ian Loughran in Wanaka; experiencing poetry live with illustrious Otago poets, including celebrated 20/20 poets Brian Turner and Jillian Sullivan at The Perfect 10: Poetry of the South in Dunedin. There will even be an international poetry event held at the Berlin Polish Club!

Can’t get to an event, but don’t want to miss out? Simply call or text The Poetry Phone hotline on 021.474.555 or 022.300.8164 (standard calling/txting rates apply) to have poems sent to you or a friend. Find out more here: https://ofa.carbonmade.com/projects/2346591.

For full information about all Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day events, including places, venues, times, tickets and more, go to: http://www.nzbookawards.nz/national-poetry-day/calendar-of-events/.

Established in 1997, National Poetry Day is about discovery, diversity, community and pushing boundaries. It is a one-day national poetry-event extravaganza held on the last Friday of August each year. This is the second year of National Poetry Day operating under the sponsorship of Phantom Billstickers.

Phantom Billstickers is a street poster company which has consistently helped New Zealanders express themselves since 1982. Phantom actively promotes New Zealand music, art, poetry and culture around the country and across the world. National Poetry Day is proudly administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust.

Invitation to the New Zealand Book Council Annual General Meeting

Just a reminder that the New Zealand Book Council Annual General Meeting will be held at the Book Council’s offices on Thursday 10th August 1.30-2pm.

We’d love you to join us! If you would like to attend the AGM please RSVP by email to reception@bookcouncil.org.nzor phone us on 04 909 7716 asap.

The Book Council offices are located on the Ground floor, 79 Boulcott Street, Wellington.

Our audited accounts and annual report for 2016 will be available to view on our website following the AGM.

Thanks to all the grandmothers…

   

 

The Women's Suffrage Petition, Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine 1893

1993 stands out in my memory for two reasons – the centenary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, and discovering a fact about one of my grandmothers. The two are connected.
    I was in Wellington attending the centenary celebrations and took the opportunity to view the petition documents at National Archives. On the database I tapped in family names, and there she was. My paternal grandmother, Mary Aberhart, who had just turned 21 years old, had signed the 1893 petition. I spent the rest of the weekend in a state of elation – and the continuing glow has remained over the intervening years.
   Even though I didn’t have the pleasure of growing up knowing her, she has been my, and indeed the family’s, heroine since.
     It is entirely proper that such an important event as the granting of women’s right to vote continues to be celebrated. Now, just short of a century and a quarter on, comes this book.
    An introduction by Barbara Brookes, Professor of History at University of Otago, is informative and very readable – providing a handy summary of the history of voting in this country
      The petition itself is explained – how a group of stalwart women distributed hundreds of printed sheets throughout the country, collected 24,000 signatures, and put the sheets together to form a roll 274 metres long.
      The bulk of the book’s 102 pages give brief accounts of 162 women who signed the history-making document, with facsimiles of selected sheets bearing approximately 1300 signatures. Care has been taken to include each geographical area where the petition was circulated.
      Whether you’re as fortunate as our family is to have our heroine included (see page 56), or not, this is a great record of all those grandmothers, great grandmothers, great aunts and great-greats who had the foresight, the strength, and the opportunity to add their name. They are all, rightly, remembered in this nation’s history.

---

Flaxflower Review by Bronwyn Elsmorewhose grandmother is also honoured at https://vimeo.com/28974581
​

Title: The Women's Suffrage Petition, Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine 1893
Editors: Jane Parkin, Nancy Swarbrick, Caren Wilton
Publisher: Bridget Williams Books in conjunction with National Library and Archives New Zealand.
ISBN: 9781988533087
RRP: $29.99
Available: Bookshops

The most read stories of the past week on The Bookseller

The most read stories of the week View this email online

 

 

Our round-up of the most read stories of the past week on The Bookseller: 1. Is the e-book a dead format? 2. Bookseller's debut longlisted for Man Booker Prize 3. O'Neill to release 'dazzling' feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid 4. Saqi Books joins calls for airline to apologise to detained woman 5. BBC unveils UK's biggest poetry festival 6. The Lido makes waves with film deal 7. Fourth Estate wins teacher's debut novel at auction 8. Pascoe to explore male physiology in second Faber book 9. Wicks dominates print in Amazon Summer Trends report 10. Tom Hanks to appear in UK-exclusive Southbank event

 

Off the Shelf

Read These Books Before You Watch The Dark Tower Movie July 31, 2017 By Chris Gaudio

 

It was a simple concept: a single man must confront evil and destroy it for the sake of his own life and all life around him. But few, perhaps not even the writer himself, thought that such a tale would resonate in the literary world for decades to come. That magical tale is Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, a breathtaking epic of immense proportions, centered around one of the most memorable protagonists in modern literature. READ MORE

 

Publishers Lunch

Today's Meal

People, Etc.

Mondadori has appointed Maria B. Campbell Associates UK as their UK scout, starting August 1.

Tina Brown and Harold Evans hosted a memorial partyhonoring the late Ed Victor, in accordance with his wishes, covered by the NYT.

Pulitzer winner for "Buried Child" and author of forty-four plays, plus many books of short stories, essays, and memoirs Sam Shepard, 73, has died.

PBS announceda new eight-part TV series, The Great American Read, to launch in Spring 2018. The series will featured 100 of America's best-loved books, selected by the public and an advisory panel of literary professionals. Six episodes of the series will be structured around themes including Being American, Heroes, Growing Up, What We Do for Love, and more. The show will debut in May with a two hour episode and run through the summer.

Bookselling
A new book store, Bibliobarwill open in the North Dallas area in Spring 2018, a brick-and-mortar expansion of online book subscription service MyBookBox. Owners Jessica Tresp, Chelsea Green, and Colin Green plan to have an inventory of 5,000 adult and children's books and host events. Chelsea Green previously worked at Harper Collins, and was a bookseller for seven years prior to that.

          

The Bookseller

Pullman calls for reintroduction of fixed book prices Philip Pullman has called for a reintroduction of a minimum price for books to protect independent bookshops, calling them “the lantern bearers of civilisation”.

Agents' trade strong but publishers demand more Advances for psychological thrillers 'plateau' as agents fear market is becoming more crowded.

Chain bookshops see upward curve across the globe Anja Sieg looks at how booksellers across the world are upping their game.

Curtis Brown leads the way in dealmaking as new lists thrive The UK’s biggest literary agency, Curtis Brown, tops our rights league table for the first half of 2017, doubling the reported deals of the next biggest firm.

Octopus wins Official Love Island Guide after auction Hamlyn, part of Octopus Publishing Group, has acquired the official book of ITV2’s "Love Island" following a "hotly contested" auction.

MJ signs Swedish bestseller in six-figure deal Michael Joseph has welcomed Swedish bestseller Fredrik Backman to its list in a six-figure deal.

S&S argues Yiannopoulos 'accepted' end of contract by failing to return advance Simon & Schuster US has claimed that by failing to return its advance or respond with “protest or reservation”, Milo Yiannopoulos accepted the cancellation of his book contract, according to reports.

Indie duo introduce new children's offering Independent houses Thames & Hudson and Darf Publishers are introducing new strands of children’s publishing to their lists.

Harari's Sapiens hits one million mark The English-language edition of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (Vintage) has sold one million copies worldwide, the publisher has revealed.

Lost My Name becomes 'Wonderbly' Publishing start-up Lost My Name has changed its name to Wonderbly.

Handmaids hit London ahead of series finale Handmaids descended on London to mark the finale of Channel 4's popular television series adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (Vintage).

Twenty years of Buffy celebrated in new Boxtree book Pan Macmillan imprint Boxtree is publishing a new unauthorised oral history of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spin-off "Angel", called Slayers and Vampires, to mark the 20th anniversary of the original cult '90s TV show.

Book Launch Invitation

Tuesday 15 August, 5.30pm Meow, Edward St.

You are warmly invited to the launch of Tess by Kirsten McDougall on Tuesday 15 August, 5.30pm–7.00pm at Meow, 9 Edward St, Te Aro Cash bar Books will be for sale courtesy of Unity Books $25, p/b About Tess

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Radio with pictures... and arts, theatre, film, comedy, books, dance, entertainment and music.

This week's stories Force Multiplier Indi Force is a music mentor, teaches composition, works at the Christchurch Art Gallery and in her spare time, composes for screen and stage. Jul 30, 2017 02:49 pm A Work of Heart It's part of a project to raise the profile of nursing, New Zealand nurses have expressed their pride, their grief, their observations and their frustrations with the health system, in a collection of poems called Listening with my heart. Jul 30, 2017 02:40 pm Elizabethan Society was Riddled with Informers and Spies Dr. Bill Angus, a lecturer at Massey University's School of English and Media Studies has been exploring the role of spies and informers in the scripts and society of the Bard and his contemporaries in his new book, Metadrama and the Informer in Shakespeare and Jonson. Jul 30, 2017 02:25 pm On your marks...Lights, Camera, Action Ant Timpson's always pretty busy. If he's not programming the Incredibly Strange section of the New Zealand International Film Festival, or producing some fairly Strange films himself like the Greasy Strangler, he's getting set for his marathon weekend of DIY Kiwi film-making, the 48 Hour Movie Challenge. Jul 30, 2017 01:50 pm The Restoration of Christchurch Arts Centre Since 2013, photographer Johannes van Kan has been putting on a hard hat and hi-vis jacket to photograph the restoration of the historic Christchurch Arts Centre. Jul 30, 2017 01:33 pm Valuable...by Design A new report has calculated that Design contributes about 4.2% of GDP and more than ninety four thousand full time equivalent jobs. Jul 30, 2017 12:45 pm Lydia Wevers bids a fond farewell to the Stout Research Centre After 17 years championing New Zealand studies and culture, Professor Lydia Wevers has just stood down as director of Victoria University's Stout Research Centre in Wellington. Jul 30, 2017 12:15 pm Older stories Traditional Threads, Contemporary Colour Words and Politics Objectspace Changing the Subject on TV Movies Wikimuseums Remembering Mrs. Elizabeth Pinfold Telling True Stories at the New Zealand IFF Not all audio is available due to copyright restrictions Visit the full archive of stories from Standing Room