THINKING ABOUT WRITING

Whitireia NZ writing tutors made the most of the recent opportunity to present papers and facilitate workshops at the Australasian Tertiary Writers’ Network colloquium.

Whitireia was one of the sponsoring organisations bringing together writers from academic, creative, and professional genres to explore links between teaching, research, and creative and professional practice.

Mandy Hager, from Whitireia’s writing programme, focussed on story-telling potential by exploring ‘bibliotherapy’. She says stories have always been used as a way to make sense of our world and pass on values and ethics.  “Bibliotherapy can change lives, overcome hopelessness and capture the imagination by using story as a means of non-confrontational, non-threatening  engagement with young people,” she says.

She also talked about the fundamental principles of bibliotherapy as practised in two life skills programmes she ‘s developed for the Dare Foundation’s new community programmes for youth at risk – programmes which use two of her novels for young adults at their core.

Whitireia writing tutor, Anna Taylor, ran a workshop exploring the challenges of teaching creative writing, asking what aspects of creative writing can be taught – ie the craft, where the tools and techniques can be used to create effect, alongside the art, creating a piece of fiction that evokes an emotional response and is perhaps more intuitive and instinctive.

Adrienne Jansen, also a tutor on Whitireia’s writing programme, took as her topic the ‘insider’ versus ‘outsider’ view and talked about her work on the book The Crescent Moon: The Asian Face of Islam in New Zealand.

The book , which was a project of the Asia:New Zealand Foundation, presented a series of ‘snapshots’ of Muslims of Asian descent in New Zealand. It was intended to correct misconceptions created after the collapse of the World Trade Centre, and give a more accurate picture of the largest group of Muslims in New Zealand.

As well as giving an overview of working on such a writing project, Adrienne talked about who should be the writer in situations like this. “Should it be an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’ view? If it’s an ‘outsider’ view, how can the writer ensure that s/he is presenting a balanced view of this highly diverse Muslim community? “

Mary-Jane Duffy, Whitireia Writing Programme Course Coordinator, says the colloquium was a great chance to hear a range of ways people think about the issues and challenges of writing, and teaching writing.

“It’s not often you get the opportunity to step back from the day to day activity of tutoring and tap into the experience of people from within New Zealand and internationally.”

Oct/Nov 2010

Cafe Poetry Winners Announced

Kapiti poet Mercedes Webb-Pullman has won the 2010 Eat Your Words Cafe Poetry Competition. Her Poem “I miss you”, about the Lembas Cafe in Raumati South, was chosen from 227 entries by the judge, Wellington poet Jenny Bornholdt.

Mercedes has won a meal for two at Cobar Restaurant in Days Bay, and ferry tickets to and from Wellington. Second equal winners, Selina Powell and Amanda Hunt, have won generous vouchers to Seatoun Cafe and Bar and Marsden Village Cafe. Thirty nine other poems have won vouchers from participating cafes.

Mercedes Webb-Pullman is a past student of the Creative Writing Programme at Whitireia NZ and is at present finishing an MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University.

To celebrate the close of the competition, Cafe Kaizen at Pataka hosted a dinner on Wednesday 3 November. It was a chance to hear the winning poems, and a couple of café poems from Jenny Bornholdt as well. Six other Wellington cafes also hosted readings - Lembas Café in Raumati South,  Cafe Villa in Ngaio, The Ballroom Café in Newtown,  The Marrakech Café in Evans Bay, The Fig Tree Café and Delicatessen in Upper Hutt and the Seatoun Café and Bar in Seatoun.

Aug/Sept 2010

Whitireia Writers Take Out Awards   

The announcement of the winners of the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards is adding to a startling year for Whitireia Creative Writing Programme tutors and students.

The top award for fiction went to Alison Wong, a graduate of the programme, for her novel As the Earth Turns Silver. Charmaine Pountney, one of the judges of the Awards, describes Alison as bringing ‘a powerful new voice and new themes to New Zealand fiction.’ Earlier this year Wong said of the Writing Programme, ‘it gave me the opportunity to try many kinds of writing with experienced tutors. It was a warm environment, safe for trying new genres not in one’s comfort zone.’ She is already a successful poet and with this first novel, she now proves herself a master of another genre.

The Best First Book Award for Fiction went to Anna Taylor, a tutor on the programme, for her collection of short stories, Relief. Anna is currently teaching students who are producing their first collection of short fiction, a genre she is highly skilled at. Anna completed an MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University, began teaching short fiction on the popular Whitireia online writing course, and is now teaching at the Cuba Street campus.

In the same week that the New Zealand Post Book Awards were announced, two graduates from the Bachelor of Applied Arts in 2009 were selected for the prestigious New Zealand Film Commission’s First Writers’ Initiative. Lucia Ablett and Vanessa Simons are two of the six winners of these awards, selected from over one hundred applicants.

They studied scriptwriting with one of New Zealand’s top scriptwriters, Graeme Tetley, and over two years brought their ideas for a feature length script to a standard ready for industry attention.

Both Lucia and Vanessa say they are thrilled with the opportunities this initiative will offer them. ‘It’s like all the hard work has paid off and it gives credibility to my work,’ says Lucia.

Vanessa, who first enrolled in the Whitireia Writing Programme in the late 90s, says ‘It’s fantastic to be a part of this community of writers who go on to win the country’s top awards. I don’t think I could ever have got to this point without the tutoring and mentoring offered on the programme.’

Earlier in the year two current students were selected for the Radio New Zealand student drama script competition and another student had her poem published in the NZ Listener. Programme manager, Pip Byrne, says this bevy of awards and selections confirms that the programme is producing writers who contribute to the New Zealand writing landscape.