Cilla McQueen, David Howard and the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre are planning four days of literary fun in Bluff, from 21 to 24 April.

Why Bluff? As David Howard notes,

A symposium is gloriously inappropriate for Bluff, as is a series of poetry readings and a book/CD launch. The live audience will be small, with a larger virtual readership after the fact, via the posting of contributions on the nzepc site.

That is Bluff's vagrant attraction for us; as a site it defies commonsense careerist criteria - which is, we suspect, why many writers have accepted the invitation to participate.

The turnout for Bluff 06 is pretty good: meandering down to the bottom of State Highway 1 will be Rob Allan, Tusiata Avia, Jeanne Bernhardt, Kay McKenzie Cooke, John Dolan, Martin Edmond, Murray Edmond, David Eggleton, Cliff Fell, Brian Flaherty, Paula Green, Michael Harlow, Bernadette Hall, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, David Howard, Michele Leggott, Therese Lloyd, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Cilla McQueen, Emma Neale, Richard Reeve, Jack Ross and Brian Turner.

If you fancy the trip, you can download the programme as a PDF file here. And there’s more about Bluff’s attractions, such as Fred & Myrtle’s Paua house and the joys of oystering, on the Bluff town website.