New Sea Land Launched: Thanks to everyone who made the event a success!

My fourth poetry collection, New Sea Land, was launched last night at Ekor Bookshop & Cafe in Wellington. The launch went really well – lots of lovely people came, Harvey Molloy gave an amazing introductory speech that made me sound like George R. R. Martin crossed with Sylvia Plath (in other words, chirpy and fun-lovin’), and I spent the evening signing books, which is a gratifying thing for an author at a book launch.

Lovely people, lovely bookshop

Thanks to everyone who helped make this launch a great event – Helen Rickerby for recommending Ekor Bookshop to me in the first place,Niki Ward and George for running the event, Mary McCallum and Paul McCallum Stewart of Mākaro Press for accepting, designing and publishing the book, Harvey Molloy for launching it, Claire Beynon for the lovely cover images, William Carden-Horton for the interior images, and everyone who took part in the launch or sent apologies!

This is a cover version of “Possessed to Skate”. I call it “Poised to Sign”.

(Thanks also to Mary for the photos used in this post. You can find more of Mary’s photos of the launch here: https://www.facebook.com/mary.mccallum.566/posts/10210587683551982)

There were a few people I barely got a chance to talk to at the launch – to all of you, thanks for attending, and I hope we’ll catch up soon!

No rest for the wicked, though – well, a little rest, but then I’ll be taking poems from “New Sea Land” for a spin at three events on National Poetry Day this Friday:

12noon-1.15pm: Poets in the Park: A National Poetry Day Event: Glover Park, Ghuznee St Wellington (STOP PRESS: Due to the weather forecast, this is now “Poets in Wellington Central Library”!)
2pm-3.15pm: Buckets of Poets: A National Poetry Day Event: Bucket Fountain, Cuba Mall, Wellington (STOP PRESS: Due to the weather forecast, this is now “Poets in Wellington Central Library”!)
7.30pm-10pm: “Poems of the Season and the Land”. This event, at St Mary’s Church, 56 Woburn Rd, Lower Hutt (see map), features a great lineup of poets.

Copies of New Sea Land are currently available from the publisher, from Ekor Bookshop & Cafe (17b College St, Te Aro, Wellington), and from your local independent bookseller. If your bookseller doesn’t have them in stock, they can order the book for you. It helps the bookshop if you can give them the following details:

Title: New Sea Land

Author: Tim Jones

Publisher: Mākaro Press

ISBN: 978-0-9941299-6-3

The RRP is $25.

Tim Jones, Mary McCallum and Paul Stewart. Poet was going for Byronic air of mystery – didn’t quite achieve it.