So the launch of our third AUP CD / Text anthology, New New Zealand Poets in Performance, is on Friday, 18th July, in the late afternoon (5.30 to 7 pm), at the Auckland Central Library, as part of the Montana Poetry day celebrations.
Other times have been advertised, but are incorrect - the above are final confirmed details of the event.
There's an article by Jennifer Little about the book already up on Massey News online (it was published a bit more expeditiously than we thought, so the reference to the launch "last Friday" should read "this coming Friday") ...
The event will begin with the launch of Bob Orr's latest book of poems, Calypso, then segue into readings by a number of the "New NZ Poets" included in our anthology. Anna Jackson, Therese Lloyd, Mark Pirie and Chris Price have all confirmed they'll be there, but there may be some others as well on the night. Each of us will read one of our own poems, followed by one by another poet from the book who can't be there, so you can expect a pretty wide coverage of modern NZ Poetry. The event will be MC'ed by Poet Laureate Michele Leggott, who will also be launching both books.
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Similarly, the performance by Anna Rugis and myself ("Traffic in Gold"), at the New Art gallery coffee lounge on the corner of Wellesley and Lorne Sts, will take place between 1 pm and 2 pm on Saturday 19th July, as a kind of prequel to the Auckland Art Gallery's Winter Warmers series.
Other times have been advertised, but are incorrect - this is final confirmed information about the event.
The Winter Warmers series is planned to continue every Saturday afternoon until Spring (further details are available on the Art Gallery website). I should stress that the performances will normally run from 2 to 4 pm, and will include a varied line-up of readers and musicians.
After Anna and I have finished our lunchtime show, the series proper will kick off with Jen Crawford reading from her recently published poetry collection bad appendix and continue with a set of songs from "Chanson" by Anna Rugis, Linn Lorkin & Hershal Herscher.
I'm told there might be something about this in the Weekend Herald ...
All I can say about our own performance is that it will include poems and prose extracts from my recent novel EMO, published by Titus Books earlier this year, as well as a number of songs from Anna's new CD Traffic in Gold.
Anna's CD, and Jen's and my books, will all be on sale, so please bring your chequebook in case you get inspired to go one further in supporting us local artists! Only if you like what you hear, of course.
It's the third time Anna and I have performed together at the Art Gallery on or around Poetry Day, and both previous shows were pretty kick-ass (though I say it who shouldn't). This time we hope to outdo ourselves.
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NB: you can see a review of this performance on the Auckland Poetry website here.
