HEADWORX
Publishers publishers of quality Australasian poetry and fiction


Managing editor
Mark Pirie

97/43 Mulgrave Street
Thorndon
Wellington 6011
Ph 04 4734111

Media Release: 17 September 2010


The First National Anthology of Cricket Poems

HeadworX presents 'A Tingling Catch'

Cricket fans unite. Never before has a unique national anthology like this been released.
New Zealand poets are expanding the tradition and range of cricket writing and art.

'A Tingling Catch' is where poetry meets the essence of cricket: bowling, batting, fielding, commentary, cricket watching and listening, accounts of famous matches and players, childhood cricket poems, social members of the game and lots more! The result is a brilliant insight into the world of cricket from all levels and standpoints of the game that will have the reader tingling for the next catch from some of our best poets.

The anthology presents some of New Zealand literature's most well-known names (and some overseas authors), both past and present, featuring highly acclaimed and award winning poets and cricket writers such as Don Neely, Kevin Ireland, Michael O'Leary, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Brian Turner, Harry Ricketts, James Brown, Geoff Cochrane, John Clarke (aka Fred Dagg), Whim Wham, Denis Glover, Mark Pirie, Richard Langston, Bill Direen, William Pember Reeves, Elizabeth Smither, Anne French, David Eggleton, David Mitchell, Graham Lindsay, Thomas Bracken, Murray Edmond, Samuel Butler (England), Sir AP Herbert (England), Nick Whittock (Australia) among others.

Wellington-born writer, editor, publisher and critic Mark Pirie is the editor of the anthology. Pirie initiated, co-edited and produced the literary magazine JAAM (Just Another Art Movement) from 1995-2005, and currently edits the HeadworX New Poetry Series and the poetry journal broadsheet, as well as co-organising the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa in Wellington (www.poetryarchivenz.wordpress.com).

Pirie is the author or editor of over 20 books, including the anthology of Generation X New Zealand writing, The NeXt Wave and (with Tim Jones) a prize-winning anthology of New Zealand Science Fiction poetry, Voyagers (winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Collected Work and one of the “Best 100 Books” of 2009 in the NZ Listener). He is listed in the new critical book 99 Ways into NZ Poetry (Random House, 2010) and is included in New New Zealand Poets in Performance (Auckland University Press, 2008). He has been a cricket watcher and enthusiast since he was a boy and has played social grade cricket for two Wellington clubs, Wellington Collegians Cricket Club and Hutt District Cricket Club.

HeadworX is one of New Zealand's most productive and leading independent poetry publishers. It publishes about 5 titles per year and its list runs to over 50 titles since 1998, many of which have received funding from Creative NZ. (More info on the HeadworX website.)

'A Tingling Catch' will be launched this year at the Basin Reserve's Cricket Museum.

For more information regarding 'A Tingling Catch' or to schedule an interview, please email mpirie@xtra.co.nz

Mark Pirie can be contacted on Wellington (Home) 04 473 4111 or Mobile 021 027 55519. Please note: Mark works full-time and HeadworX is at present a spare time interest.

New title information:

TITLE: 'A Tingling Catch': A century of NZ cricket poems 1864-2009
EDITOR: Mark Pirie
FOREWORD: Don Neely
CATEGORY: NZ Sport/Poetry
FORMAT: Paperback, 189pp.
PRICE: $34.99 NZ
RELEASE: 17 September 2010