NZSA Opens Audio Archives and Launches New Podcast series

NZSA Opens Audio Archives and Launches New Podcast series

Episode 1 features Lauris Edmond, and launches today!

Today, the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa opens it's audio archives to give a fascinating glimpse into the lives on New Zealand writers.

In this new series, long-serving NZSA (PEN NZ) members and literary giants such as Lauris Edmond, Gordon McLauchlan, Joy Cowley and Fiona Kidman tell their story of fighting institutions, government and sometimes each other to advocate for writers rights.

The NZSA Oral History Project features New Zealand writers reminiscing about their writing, the experience of being a writer in NZ, about PEN and the NZSA. Three sets of interviews have been conducted with members over the last thirty years to capture these recollections, with a fourth series in planning.

The first two series were undertaken with great foresight, by Michael King and Alison Grey and 2 years ago, Deborah Shepherd was commissioned by the NZSA to complete series three. These tapes have been sitting in the Turnbull, and last year Creative New Zealand provided funding to enable us to develop these interviews as podcasts, which will sit on our site permanently, as a repository, a record and a celebration of our history, our writers and New Zealand’s literary heritage.

"The idea was conceived over 30 years ago to record an oral history of the New Zealand Society of Authors and PEN in New Zealand," says NZSA CEO Jenny Nagle. "When we realised what rich social and literary history they contained and that the intimacy of the interviews was so compelling, we couldn't let them continue to stay tucked away in the Turnbull."

Work began last year to digitise the older interviews, and gather new ones to create a lasting series of New Zealand writers. Voices of lost literary figures such as Michael King, Ruth Dallas, Cat Cole Catley and Lauris Edmond are especially moving to encounter. New Zealand veteran broadcaster, NZSA member and author Karyn Hay presents the series.

"There are also some colourful stories from the writing community: laughter, plenty of words of course and more than a few rows!"

You can listen to Lauris Edmond in Episode One on The NZSA website, Soundcloud, Stitcher, tunein or wherever you get your podcasts. One will release each fortnight.

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