brief

The other New Zealand literary journal

Category: Publications

Launch: Vaughan Rapatahana, Novel

Book launch for Novel (Rangitawa Publishing, 2018)

Novel by Vaughan RapatahanaThe rapidly developing action in Novel straddles Aotearoa New Zealand, Hong Kong SAR, Philippines and beyond. In our contemporary world of increasing electronic surveillance from hegemonic national administrations, several diverse characters struggle to survive to resist in a variety of ways. At the same time the so-called established methods of writing fiction undergo deconstruction.

 

Who: Vaughan Rapatahana. Introduction by Roger Horrocks
When: Sunday 10 March, 2.pm
Where: Nectar Lounge, Kingslander Hotel, New North Road, Auckland.

The novel has a highly visual cinematic quality to it, cutting quickly from scene to scene while letting the action speak for itself. Its uncluttered narrative held my attention to the last page. It deserves a wide readership. – Bob Orr

Central Auckland Poets: Poetry in the Garden

Poetry in the Garden


What: 45 page chapbook featuring the work of new poetry group CAP (Central Auckland Poets)

Who:  Michael Giacon, Gillian Roach, Alexandra Fraser, Lincoln Jaques, Denise O’Hagan.
Chapbook designed by Anna Marshall and published by CAPpress.

 

to open the gate to the beautiful garden
open the gate

Launch: Carin Smeaton, Tales of the Waihorotiu

Book launch for Tales of the WaihorotiuTales of the Waihorotiu (Titus Books, 2018)

The Waihorotiu Stream ‘Queen Street River’ used to run down the centre of Auckland’s main road before it was first turned into a canal, and then later diverted into a sewer, where it now flows beneath Queen street.
The Tales of the Waihorotiu tell the story of another Auckland, one that lives beside and underneath capital investment and economic growth. It captures the hardships and humour of people who are forced to navigate WINZ case managers, homelessness, violence and ill-health.

The evening will also celebrate the release of Vaughan Rapatahana’s latest book, ternion.

Who: Carin Smeaton, Vaughan Rapatahana. Murray Edmond, Laurice Gilbert, Rata Gordon, Jiaquio Rosalie Liu, Alexandra Fraser
When: Wednesday 11 October, 6.pm
Where: St Heliers Community Library, 32 St Heliers Bay Rd, Auckland.

 “These poems are full of Ulysses-like cartographic wanderings through the byways of inner-city Auckland, creating purely localised, truly New Zealand fairytales..” — Vivienne Plumb

Book launch: Ted Jenner, The Arrow That Missed

Book Launch for The Arrow That Missed (Cold Hub Press, 2017)

The Arrow That MissedWho: Author Ted Jenner. Introduction by Scott Hamilton.
When: Wednesday 16 August, 5.30 pm
Where: Auckland Central Public Library, Whare Whananga (Level 2), Auckland

New collection of poems and prose poems from the author of  The Gold Leaves and Writers in Residence and Other Captive Fauna.

“It is a labyrinthine house of language with many rooms that Jenner inhabits and what he finds there is never less than (ordinarily) surprising and provocative.”  Michael Harlow, Landfall 

Book Launch: David Lyndon Brown, White City

Book launch for White City (Titus Books, 2017)

Who: Author David Lyndon Brown. Speakers include Olwyn Stewart, Tony O’Brien, Tim Leath
When: Thursday 27 July, 5.30 pm
Where: Albion Hotel – downstairs function room, 119 Hobson Street, Central Auckland.

White City by David Lyndon BrownWhite City is a collection of short stories set mostly in and around Auckland’s Albert Park.

 ‘No booze, no nothing for a week,’ I told her. ‘Just you and me and the good air and the sun and the sea.’

I can still see her curled up on that bed, the sound of the waves coming in through the window, peacefully sleeping like a little girl. We only lasted four days, but it was the best four days of my life.

Now Melissa’s fucked. We don’t get together so much. She’s too busy working the parlours for white.

“Brown treats his characters with clear-eyed generosity, but never condescension. They are often resourceful though lacking in resources, and tender, if tenuous, connections are made between characters that are not firmly connected to the mainstream grid.”

JNZL Special Issue: New Writing 1975-2000

NZJL special issue: new writingThe Journal of New Zealand Literature (JNZL) has a special issue which is likely to be of interest to brief readers.

Entitled New Writing 1975-2000 and edited by John Geraets, it contains essays by Owen Bullock, Wystan Curnow, Makyla Curtis, Murray Edmond, John Geraets, Roger Horrocks, Jack Ross, and Robert Sullivan.

For more details, visit the JNZL website.

Book launch: two chapbooks from Seraph Press, Auckland

Book launch for two chapbooks from Seraph Press.

Shipwrecks/Shelters: Six Contemporary Greek Poets, edited and translated by Vana Manasiadis, and Observations: Poems by Claudio Pasi, translated by Tim Smith with Marco Sonzogni.

When: Wednesday 16 December, 6pm
Where: St Paul St Gallery, 40 Paul St, Auckland
Who: Readings by Vana Manasiadis, Paula Green, Hemi Kelly, Glenn Colquhoun, Tulia Thompson, Siobhan Harvey, Doug Poole, and Jack Ross.

A multilingual poetry reading to celebrate the launch of the first the first two chapbooks in the Seraph Press Translation Series. Poetry readings in and from Greek, Italian, Maori, Fijian, Norwegian, Samoan, and French.

Launch: Richard von Sturmer, This Explains Everything

This Explains EverythingBook launch for This Explains Everything (Atuanui Press, 2016)

When: Friday November 18, 6 pm
Where: Onehunga Community House, 83 Selwyn Street, Onehunga, Auckland.
Who: Author Richard von Sturmer. Introduction by Scott Hamilton, music by Gabriel White.

This Explains Everything is part memoir and part adventure story, and also features recent poetry and prose poems.

“This is a gorgeous and poignant book, an intensely personal story of family love and yearning that also speaks to the formation of the imaginative self. Richard von Sturmer is the best New Zealand memoirist since Martin Edmond.” – Anne Kennedy

“This is beautiful writing; dream-like, precise, magnificent.” – Don McGlashan

© 2024 brief