Poet Laureate Ian Wedde to talk at Massey

The art of shifting between poetry, fiction and essay forms, and how to decide which best suits an idea, are among topics distinguished poet, author, commentator and critic Ian Wedde will touch on in a talk at Massey’s Albany campus next week.

The free lunchtime public talk on September 15 is one of Mr Wedde’s first in his new role as Poet Laureate, announced last month, and a unique chance for readers, writers and poetry lovers to hear him as guest in the University’s Writers Read Series, run by the School of English and Media Studies.

As the new public face of poetry, he will read from and talk about some of his new work, including his latest novel The Catastrophe, and his book-essay, The Grass-Catcher, the first chapter of which was winner of last year’s Landfall essay competition, as well as poems, including the work-in-progress Shadow Stands Up, which can be viewed on the New Zealand Poet Laureate blog.

Mr Wedde, a prolific and multi award-winning writer of fiction, poetry and art history, and former head of art and visual culture at Te Papa museum, is the third New Zealand Poet Laureate since the award was established in 2007 to succeed the Te Mata Poet Laureate Award. The biennial award was held first by Michele Leggott, then Cilla McQueen.

Acclaimed for his literary achievements across various genres and for the depth and breadth of his aesthetic and intellectual explorations, he will share his thoughts on adapting material to different forms. “It’s a fairly intuitive process,” he says. “I’ll be thinking aloud to some extent about why you would write poetry about something and how this might become an essay, and where these overlap.”

His autobiographical essay The Grass-Catcher, “is about what we mean by ‘home’, in the biggest sense,” he says. It’s something I’ve thought about for a while, and it keeps cropping up as a subtext in a lot of my writing.”

His publications include fourteen collections of poetry, six novels, two collections of essays, a monograph on the artist Bill Culbert, several art catalogues, and numerous contributions to other books. He won the 1977 Book Award for Fiction for his first novel, Dick Seddon’s Great Dive, and the 1978 New Zealand Book Award for Poetry for Spells for Coming Out. Ralph Hotere: Black Light, which he edited, won the Illustrative Arts section of the 2001 Montana New Zealand book awards.

The New Zealand Poet Laureate receives $80,000 over the two-year tenure, and is supported by the National Library to define the role in their own individual way, while fulfilling the responsibilities of the office to produce work and to publicly advocate for and present poetry.

Read Ian Wedde’s blog and work-in-progress in the National Library’s website for the Poet Laureate: http://nzpoetlaureate.natlib.govt.nz/

Ian Wedde in Writers Read Series; 12pm, Thursday 15 September; Massey Albany, Study Centre Staff Lounge.