There will be a glittering fundraising benefit at the International Institute of Modern Letters this Wednesday 23rd. Four Great Writers for a Great Cause will be hosted by Professor Pat Walsh, Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University, and Professor Bill Manhire, Director of the IIML.
Money raised will go to support creative writers at the IIML, and of course they’re going for gold, as all money raised up to $NZ1 million by the end of 2005 will be matched in US dollars by Glenn Schaeffer, American literary activist and IIML patron.
The theme is Great Sporting Moments: The Best of ‘Sport’ Magazine 1988-2004 published by VUP this month. Chaired by its editor Damien Wilkins, the evening features readings and conversation with Emily Perkins, Glenn Colquhoun, Jenny Bornholdt and Elizabeth Knox. Oh yum.
$30 gets you wine and canapés as well from 7pm at Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus, 23 Lambton Quay, Wellington. Tickets on sale at Vicbooks, Rutherford House, or email pipitea@vicbooks.co.nz or call 04-463 5511 (or 0800 370 370 if outside Wellington).
20 Nov 05 | Filed by Kathy | Add your comment (2 so far)
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Comment by Mary McC ~ November 24, 2005 8:58 AM
It was a real treat of a night, Kathy. You'd have loved it. There was terrific compering by Damien who's rapidly becoming the 'Dom' of the NZ writing idol world. Each writer got a snappy introduction and then had a chat with Damien before reading from his/her work. The conversations traversed such issues as -- why write in a tin shed in the Bay of Islands with an uncertain income rather than be a doctor? The writers also got a full 15 minutes to read which felt like a good chunk. It allowed Jenny Bornholdt to bring out an array of poems she'd published in Sport over the years including her latest poem Willow which is 10 minutes all on its own. Emily Perkins read three extracts from a novel in progress which took us from London to Fiji and back. Elizabeth Knox took us into the complicated fantasy world of her Dreamhunter sequel and Glenn Colquhoun read us love poems from a collection that still doesn't have a title, saying he'd stop when our eyes glazed over (he was conscious he was the last to read.) But I don't think anyone wanted it to end. We were floating on words. Bill Manhire stood up last and read us three as yet unpublished poems by Janet Frame including one on why she was unable to avoid writing poetry. In another very small poem, she talked of the need to be awake with someone before you slept with them and Bill said that's what he loved about the writers who'd shared their work last night -- they kept us awake to things. Earlier, he'd referred to the $30 fundraising evening as a bit like 'mugging his friends.' Certainly many of the usual writers' night crowd were there, but this was different from the usual writers' night in its length and depth -- a wonderful gift, not a mugging at all. (all thanks to Vicbooks, I gather.)
Comment by Lib Coubrough ~ November 29, 2005 4:25 PM
I did enjoy the evening and can't wait for the moment in the future I can take timeoff work to go to Readers and Writers week.
Another advantage of retirement will be the time I can allot to sitting in the garden devouring more NZ books with a lime and soda in hand.
The writers whetted my appetite.
The other members of the book group who attended were similarly excited.
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