11 February 2010

Five Blogs I Like. Chapter 1: The First Five

A week or so ago, writer Debbie Cowens very kindly nominated me for a Prolific Blogger Award, as part of which, all the nominees are invited to nominate seven prolific bloggers of their own.

Although I decided not to go down the Prolific Blogger route (because I'm, like, a rebel), it did remind me that I'd fallen out of the habit of posting here about other blogs I enjoy reading, even if I don't catch up with them as often as I'd like. So I've decided to institute a semi-regular series called "Five Blogs I Like".

Some of my favourite bloggers are far more prolific than I, while others maintain a posting average of about once a month. You'll find all sorts in here, and they won't all be writing blogs, or New Zealand blogs - but in this first instalment, I'm going to feature five New Zealand writing blogs I have liked ever since I first set on eyes on them.

Helen Rickerby: Winged Ink. Helen is a fine poet, a publisher, and a person who always has interesting things to say. Her blog was one of those I modelled "Books In The Trees" on when I began it, and the other such blog was ...

Harvey Molloy: Notebook. This blog features news of Harvey's life, thoughts on poetry & existence, and now and then some of his wonderful poems, like this one: After New Year.

Kay McKenzie Cooke: made for weather. Kay is one of my favourite poets. Her work has an added appeal for me because it's often about Southland, the province I grew up in and often write about in my own poetry. Not only that, but she illustrates it with great photos as well.

Meliors Simms: Bibliophilia. Meliors is very talented as both a poet and an artist, with her work recently having been a finalist for a national arts prize. Plus, Antarctic art, and discussions of Kim Stanley Robinson!

Graham Beattie: Beatties Book Blog. This blog, which Graham Beattie updates several times a day - he truly deserves the title of Prolific Blogger - is a trade journal for the New Zealand publishing industry, from beneath the surface of which literary disputes occasionally burst into the open. It's an essential resource for working writers in New Zealand.

3 comments:

Harvey Molloy said...

Thanks for the mention, Tim. I never bother to check the stats to see whose reading (well, maybe 'never' isn't quite right--say once a year) so it's nice to read comments. I do read the other blogs you mention. I think of many blogs as having a small audience and I'm quite happy if my audience is a small posse of other like-minded bloggers. Facebook seems a bit 'rah rah' and 'loud' compared to blogging. I also use the blog as a personal record (playlists, names of books I've read etc).

Helen Rickerby said...

Aww, thanks Tim! I'm afraid the wee blog has been a bit neglected of late, but I shall try to rectify it.

I'm honoured to have been included with such distinguished company by such distinguished company.

Meliors Simms said...

thanks Tim!