Writers’ event to explore Kiwis’ sense of place
November 28, 2014
Writers’ event to explore Kiwis’ sense of place
More than 130 of New Zealand’s top writers and literary academics will gather in Wellington next week for a colloquium exploring how a writer’s understanding of their place in the world affects their writing.
The Placing the Personal Essay colloquium, to be hosted at Massey University from December 2-3, is a unique event being co-convened by research centres at Massey, Victoria University and Otago University.
Co-organiser Dr Ingrid Horrocks, senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey’s School of English and Media Studies, says the event will bring together a diverse and exciting group of New Zealand writers and humanities scholars. It will follow the Australasian Association of Writing Programmes Annual Conference, which is also being hosted by Massey in Wellington at the start of next week, and features more than 60 writers and writing teachers from across New Zealand and Australia.
“The colloquium aims to extend the conversation about ‘place’ for a new generation of New Zealand writers and scholars. It’s a great opportunity for people to come together to think about the role a personal voice can have in the re-imagining of the places where we live and work, and where people have lived and worked in the past,” Dr Horrocks says.
“There’s been an upsurge of interest in the personal essay in recent years, from blogging, to long, thoughtful works on the changing faces of Christchurch or Auckland, Waikanae or Ohakune.”
Renowned New Zealand non-fiction writer Martin Edmond will open the event with a keynote address looking at the relationship between a reader and writer and the re-imagining that goes on when a person interprets somebody else’s work.
Other high profile attendees include former poet laureate Ian Wedde, Māori best-selling author Tina Makereti, Māori scholar and poet Alice Te Punga Somerville and Otago historian Tony Ballantyne.
Victoria University School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies teaching fellow and colloquium co-organiser Dr Cherie Lacey says the event will look at whether increasing mobility is changing the way people write about place. It will also question the relevance of national identity and examine whether is it being replaced by stronger regional or individual identities, she says.
“The older nationalist models are beginning to be questioned. We are seeing many people writing about New Zealand from their own unique perspective, based on their memories, childhood experience and the place where they stand.
It is hoped the Placing the Personal Essay colloquium will be a first step towards a book of personal essays that will give readers an insight into the distinct regional flavours of New Zealand.
ENDS