South Island – Tim Jones

From 10-12 March, I’m doing three poetry readings in three South Island cities in three days! Below are all the details – it would be great if you could come along, and if you can’t, please encourage your friends in Te Waipounamu to do so. Thanks to the Octagon Poets’ Collective and Canterbury Poets Collective for inviting me to read, and to Arts Murihiku for kindly agreeing to host my Invercargill event.

The Schedule

Tuesday 10 March: Waihōpai / Invercargill: Southland Roots, Southern Journeys: Hear poet Tim Jones read poems of Southland and talk about the southern roots of his poetry

Venue: Whare Taupua, 34 Forth Street, Invercargill

Date and time: Tuesday 10 March, 5-7pm

Poet Tim Jones grew up in Southland. He now lives in Wellington, but he started writing poetry in Southland, and the life and land of Murihiku continue to be a central thread in his poetry. Join Tim Jones for a poetry reading and Q&A session. Tim will read from his latest poetry collection, Dracula in the Colonies, and also read poems about Southland from his earlier collections. Tim’s books will be available for sale and signing at the event, and there will be time for a chat over a cuppa afterwards

Programme:

Doors open 5pm
Tim’s reading, followed by a Q&A session, starts at 5.30pm
At about 6.30pm, there will be time for a cuppa and a chat
Event finishes 7pm

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1415486880117301/

Photo of Tim Jones sitting on a tree root in a forest. Behind him are undergrowth, pine trees, and grass, with a distant skyline in the background. Upslope are roots, pine needles, and grass. The author is wearing a flower-patterned shirt.

Wednesday 11 March: Ōtepoti / Dunedin: Octagon Poets’ Collective, 7pm, New Athenaeum Theatre – with Kay McKenzie Cooke as guest MC, an Open Mike (see Kay on the night to sign up for that) and guest poets Tim Jones and Richard Reeve. All welcome; entry is free, but there is a range of food and drink available to purchase at the Theatre.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/937303555486613

Thursday 12 March: Ōtautahi / Christchurch: Canterbury Poets Collective, Ara Imagitech Theatre, 130 Madras Street, Christchurch. The event kicks off at 6.30pm with an open mike, then there’s a break for mingling and book-buying, then the guest readers start around 7.30pm. I’m reading with Megan Clayton and Dietrich Soakai.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/3937533586552549

I last visited the West Coast in 1989, when I returned to Haast Beach, where I’d lived as a young child. (Here’s my poem about that return journey: Shetland Ponies, Haast Beach – and below is Lake Brunner, near Blackball.)

Lake Brunner, West Coast, South Island

For that and many other reasons, I was very glad to be invited as a guest to the Blackball Readers and Writers Festival – originally scheduled for 2020, but postponed till 2021.

I enjoyed getting to know the village of Blackball, where as the map below shows there is a lot going on. I enjoyed listening to the sessions, which gave so much more opportunity to get to know writers than the usual two-questions-and-on-to-the-next-panelist format of larger writers’ festivals. AndI enjoyed the panel I was on, where Caroline Selwood interviewed Kathleen Gallagher and I about wiring and activism, and what motivates us as writers.

Map of Blackball

Blackball is a remarkable community, which both acknowledges and celebrates its mining past and is actively seeking to move beyond it. Here’s more about Blackball, the Festival, and Blackball’s role in promoting a Justice Transition away from fossil fuels for the West Coast:

– Festival Report: Readers & Writers Festival successful
– Radio NZ: Blackball – the town that refused to die
– Coast future highlighted at May Day forum

Tag: South Island

Dracula’s March: Three Cities, Three Readings, Three Days!

The Blackball Readers and Writers Festival 2021