"The Stars Like Sand" Highly Commended In ACT Writers' Centre Awards

The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry, the anthology I co-edited with Canberra poet P. S. Cottier, published in 2014, was thereby eligible for the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards - and, while it didn't win its category (Publishing Awards: Poetry Category), it did receive a Highly Commended and some nice words from the judges:

P S Cottier and her New Zealand co-editor Tim Jones have assembled an ebullient landmark anthology that attempts to embrace a very broad church indeed. An impressive matrix of 'big names' in Australian poetry allows plenty of space nevertheless for the minor poets, who contribute some of the best pieces in the diffuse speculative genre. The poems surprise and delight, lending the anthology a broad appeal.

Whether the speculative poetry category is "diffuse" is an interesting question, but it's great for The Stars Like Sand to get this recognition. Congratulations to John Stokes for his win in this category, to all the other winners and placegetters, and thanks to the ACT Writers Centre for the opportunity! Here are a couple of photos from the ceremony - the "Highly Commended" certificate, and Penelope with the certificate (thanks to Penelope Cottier for the photos).

I'm Teaching Two "Writing Short Fiction" courses at Whitireia Polytechnic in the first term of 2016; End of a Tuesday Poem Era

I'm teaching Writing Short Fiction at Whitireia Polytechnic in 2016

Whitireia Polytechnic have asked me to teach two Writing Short Fiction courses (Short Fiction I and Short Fiction II) in the first term of 2016 - the first an introduction to writing short stories, and the second an introduction to various genres of short fiction.

These courses are part of the on-campus version of the Diploma in Creative Writing, and will be taught at their Wellington Campus in Dixon St. There are still places available in the Diploma, so if you or someone you know would like to take it, you can enrol online.

I'm looking forward to teaching these courses - I've already had some involvement with the Whitireia programme via mentoring and manuscript assessment, but teaching these two courses represents an exciting (if a little scary!) challenge.

Whitireia are also offering Screenwriting at Levels 6 and 7 for the first time in three years - places are available for that course as well.

End of an Era for the Tuesday Poem

After five years, the Tuesday Poem is coming to an end - though perhaps not the end. To mark the occasion, co-founders Mary McCallum and Claire Beynon have compiled a poem from the Tuesday Poets' poems, And I know now what I didn't know then. It's well worth reading!

The Tuesday Poem site will stay online, and many of the Tuesday Poets and former Tuesday Poets - plan to keep posting poems on their blogs - you should be able to keep on finding them in the left sidebar of the Tuesday Poem site.

New anthology Shortcuts: Track 1, containing six fine novellas including my "Landfall", is now available

What's better than one SF/F novella? Six of 'em, collected together as Shortcuts: Track 1, edited by Marie Hodgkinson, from Paper Road Press: http://paperroadpress.co.nz/b…/shortcuts-track-1-collection/

I have just received my author copies of Shortcuts: Track 1 and it looks really good, with a great cover by KC Bailey:

Contents

• "Landfall" by Tim Jones (more about "Landfall" here!)
• "Bree's Dinosaur" by A C Buchanan
• "The Last" by Grant Stone
• "Mika", by Lee Murray and Piper Mejia
• "Pocket Wife" by IK Paterson-Harkness
• "The Ghost of Matter" by Octavia Cade

Now available in paperback and as an ebook on Amazon, and for order as a paperback through bookstores using the following details:

Title: SHORTCUTS: Track 1

Editor: Marie Hodgkinson

ISBN: 9780473336486

Distributor: Paul Greenberg, Greene Phoenix Marketing and PDL

"The Stars Like Sand" Shortlisted for the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards

The Stars Like Sand, the anthology of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror poetry that I co-edited with Canberra poet P. S. Cottier, has been shortlisted for the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards. It's great to see the book get this further recognition! All the shortlist and award details are below - congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and publishers. The awards will be announced on Thursday 17 December.

From Capital Letters, blog of the ACT Writers' Centre:

We are excited to announce the 2015 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards shortlist. The announcement of the winners will take place at 6pm Thursday 17 December in the Main Hall at Gorman Arts Centre. More details about the event are here. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to admin@actwriters.org.au This year, we are also pleased to welcome the Minister for the Arts, Joy Burch, who will be announcing the winners of the 2015 ACT Book of the Year Award and People's Choice. The shortlist for this award was released on 12 October 2015. The shortlist is listed below: ACT Writing and Publishing Awards Kristen Alexander, Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain Craig Cormick, Uncle Adolf Sean Costello, Capital Yarns P.S. Cottier and Tim Jones, The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry Pauline Deeves, The Midnight Burial Robert Lehane, The Pearl King Tania McCartney, Tottie and Dot John Stokes, Fire in the Afternoon The Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award Elizabeth Egan, 'Frozen Stiff' Jennifer Hand, 'Now and Then' C. H. Pearce, 'Torvald's Year' The Michael Thwaites Poetry Award Laurence Anderson, 'Winter evening on the Monaro' Michelle Brock, 'Memorabilia' Penny O'Hara, 'Ode to a Papermate Inkjoy 100' Sarah Rice, 'Action (Bus Route 2) The Anne Edgeworth Fellowship for Young People Myles Gough Louis Klee Rachael Stevens Sarina Talip The Z4 Review Writing Award There is no shortlist for this category; the winner of this award will be announced on Thursday 17 December.

Issue 23 of Poetry Notes is now available

If you're a poet, reader or student of poetry, or interested in NZ literary history, the Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa and its Poetry Notes newsletter, edited by Mark Pirie, is well worth checking out.

Reposted from the PANZA website, here is news of the latest issue of Poetry Notes.

The 23rd issue of the newsletter from Poetry Archive of New Zealand Aotearoa is available now for download as a PDF. Inside  Spring 2015, volume 6, issue 3:

An interview with Patricia Prime; A history of JAAM literary magazine; National Poetry Day Poem: Carlaw Park by Francis Cloke; poetry by MaryJane Thomson; further comment on Geoffrey Pollett (1908-1937); further comment on John O’Connor (1949-2015); Paekakariki arts walk; C K Stead appointed NZ Poet Laureate; new publications by PANZA members: Lonely Earth by MaryJane Thomson; 12 Netball Poems by Mark Pirie; Livin’ ina Aucklan’ CD by Earl of Seacliff’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Michael O’Leary and others]; Poetic Fish Hooks by Niel Wright; donate to PANZA through PayPal; recently received donations; about the Poetry Archive.

Take a look!