• NO OFFICIAL POETRY DAY FOR 2020, BUT POETS STILL ENCOURAGED TO CELEBRATE ON 21 AUGUST 2020

     The ongoing restrictions and concerns around Covid-19 demand a different approach this year to our national celebration of poetry. Organisers have made the difficult decision not to proceed with co-ordinating an official Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day in 2020. Instead they are turning 21 August over to poets countrywide to unleash the power of poetry […]

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  • How the Government forces authors to give books to people with disability, but refuses to pay for them

    Jun 02 2020   OPINION: The Government this year signed an international treaty to give free access to books for people with a disability who can’t handle print copies. Few would argue about increasing opportunities for those with a disability. But, Kiwi authors won’t be compensated for taking their work and giving it away free. […]

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  • PLAYMARKET OPPORTUNITIES – 4 CATEGORIES NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES

    https://www.playmarket.org.nz/opportunities BROWN INK Playmarket’s Brown Ink development programme is looking for Māori and Pasifika writers with the best new and original work. The programme offers two plays a development workshop with a professional script advisor and actors dedicated to helping you develop your play. Plays selected for development for Brown Ink that have gone to […]

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  • blackmail press call for submissions issue # 44 Spring 2020.

    In times of uncertainty, difficulty and change, artists and writers often hold the space to give voice to the speechless, shape to the invisible, meaning to the ambiguous.    blackmail press call for submissions issue # 44 Spring 2020. blackmail press is an online poetry journal, created to give poets, students and poetry lovers in […]

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  • Himali McInnes: Verb Wellington Resident 2020 – congratulations

    Verb Wellington Writers Residency With Katherine Mansfield House & Garden and Park Hotel Read about our 2020 Resident, Himali McInnes below. Verb Wellington, Park Hotel and Katherine Mansfield House & Garden have come together to offer an opportunity to spend time in one of the world’s most vibrant literary cities to focus on your writing. […]

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  • AWARDS SHORTLIST PACKED WITH BOOKS THAT OFFER KIWI CHILDREN THE ESCAPE OF STORIES

    If ever there was a time that children needed the escape of stories, 2020 is it. Today’s announcement of the finalists for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults reveals an abundance of incredible storytelling for Kiwi kids to immerse themselves in.   The finalist books open their pages to make room […]

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  • Chris Else Discusses His Writing Life on Latest NZSA Podcast

      In our last episode, author Chris Else talked to Deborah Shepard about his many years of active service for the New Zealand Society of Authors. During those years Chris was also writing and working as a literary agent. His writing life is the focus of our latest episode, released today.   Chris’s episode, and […]

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  • New chair heads Institute of Professional Editors – ANZ

    The Institute of Professional Editors has a new chair, Ruth Davies AE. Ms Davies replaces Kerry Davies AE (no relation) who has been the IPEd board’s chair for more than five years. Ruth Davies has been a freelance editor with her business, centreEditing, since 2007. She has had a wide range of roles with IPEd […]

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  • Toward a More Just World: A PEN America Statement

    June 1, 2020 We wanted to share with you a statement on behalf of PEN America reflecting on the killing of George Floyd and the outrage and sorrow we have experienced in recent days. We welcome your questions, comments, and insights. In solidarity, Jennifer Egan, PEN America President Suzanne Nossel, PEN America CEO   As […]

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  • BookBubble podcast: Elizabeth Knox

    Nicky Pellegrino and Stacy Gregg continue their Book Bubble podcast series with an interview with Elizabeth Knox. Wellington’s Elizabeth Knox describes herself as a modestly-sized totara in this country’s literary landscape and her most recent best-selling novel, an arcane thriller called The Absolute Book, has been snapped up by publishers in the US and the UK. […]

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  • In the Books Bubble with Brandy Scott

    Stacy Gregg Stacy Gregg is HarperCollins NZ’s third best-selling children’s author of all time (after David Walliams and Dr Seuss). Mystic, the BBC TV adaptation of her international best-selling Pony Club Secrets series, screens soon on TVNZ. Nicky Pellegrino Nicky Pellegrino is a former editor of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. She is the author […]

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  • In the Book Bubble with…Nalini Singh

    In this week’s episode of the Book Bubble podcast New York Times bestselling Auckland author Nalini Singh talks frankly with Nicky Pellegrino about the lack of diversity among authors of NZ popular fiction and what she thinks is going wrong. Why reading lots of romance isn’t bad for your love life. And how she made […]

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