Olivia Macassey
official website
Archive
2006
November
In related news, I have recently been given a Cultural
Blue in writing by the University of Auckland, which was really nice.
The blue was presented by Paul Minifie at an awards dinner which included
a surprise speech by Michael Hurst. It was also cool to see the talented Reina
Webster -Iti awarded for her work in film.Jenny Lawn, Mary Paul and Misha Kavka will be happy to launch their new Gothic NZ: The Darker Side of Kiwi Culture later this month. Otago University Press describe the book as an "entertaining and provocative anthology of images and writings." Contributers include Rachel Ahmad-Hall, Christopher Braddock, David Craig, Martin Edmond, Elizabeth Hale, Misha Kavka, Ian Lochhead, Olivia Macassey, Jack Ross, Sarah Shieff, Misery, Stephen Turner, Ian Wedde, and Yvonne Todd.
My bit is a collaboration between my poetry and Rachel Ahmad-Hall's photography.
BOOK LAUNCH Wednesday, 29 November, 6-8pm at the Roger Williams Contemporary gallery (on the corner of Randolph St, off Upper Queen Street). [visit their website]
Photo: I found an old photo of Rachel Ahmad-Hall (left), Olivia Macassey (right), and our friend Virginia, at the Goth Ball! Tee hee.
September 2006:
I've been reading Aristotle's oddly satisfying treatise on Rhetoric
(trans George Kennedy. 1991, Oxford UP). Also, Ian Wedde's book of poems
The Commonplace Odes, which is also satisfying, and touches on
that strange but lovely intersection between the ordinary and the wonderful.
In some way it's a bit like the reverse of Rhetoric, which sorts
out the techne of creating the impression of "wonderful"; whereas
what Wedde reveals (despite his command of this) is rather the gesture
of wonder within what is. If that makes any sense. You can see now
why I don't write poetry reviews!
Look out for me in: Percutio.
August 2006:
Blackmail
Press Issue 16 is out now and includes some of my poems. This issue
also marks five years of BMP! [more news]
I'm not the only one who loved Karlo Mila's Dream
Fish Floating - she won the Montana Best First Book Award!!! Way
to go."She writes poetry, she says, for those who found poetry too
hard, too opaque, at school. She wants to talk directly." - Phillip
Matthews in the Listener (August 5-11, 2006) She succeeds in this,
does she ever ... and it does my heart good to see poetry with this kind
of kaupapa receiving a prestigious - and well deserved - award.
July 2006:
Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is now available
at Whitianga Stationers (79 Albert St, Whitianga)! It's also stocked by
Unity, Parsons, or available online
from Titus.
Website suggestions/requests are most welcome. I've noticed that a surprising
number of people wind up here after googling for "poems about death"
so I was thinking of at least putting one of those up...
June 2006:
Titus is having a book launch on the 15 June, by the way, for The Imaginary
Museum of Atlantis by Jack Ross and Song of the Brakeman by
Bill Direen. For more info on Titus' latest book launch, or to see the stunning
poster for it, click
here.
And next month, look out for my poems at the web zine that we know and love
as Blackmail
Press.
Check out Hinemoana Baker's Matuhi
| Needle - lovely poetry, beautifully produced, illustrated by Jenny
Randall, and it even comes with a gorgeous CD in the back. Well worth the
cover price - buy yours today!
April 2006:
What I'm reading: sadly, I've lately been obliged to read Husserl instead.
Donations of poetry most welcome... I'm looking forward to the new Brief.
Steve Abel has
released his first album, Little Death. Steve used to perform on
saturday afternoons at the Dead Poets cafe, back in the day, and was even
guest musician for Love Without Bodies! Um... more famously he was the voice
of Gert in Woodenhead,
which also featured his fantastic song 'Hospice for Destitute Lovers'. Anyway
I can't wait to grab a copy of this - when they say "long awaited"
it's not just marketting hype.
February, 2006:
The 3rd
Wellington International Poetry Festival was interesting and worthwhile.
A good chance to hear top international poets read their work and also some
well known locals (plus a couple of younger ones like me). Among the international
guests was US poet Sam Hamill, who formed Poets
Against War. Organisers Ron Riddell and Saray Torres de Riddell are
making a valuable contribution to poetry with this festival, sometimes despite
adversity.
For a song from a bookshop in Glebe: The Vernacular Republic, Les
Murray (collected poems 1961-1983).
Finally the site has a links page of sorts.