Author(s): edited by Anne Kennedy

NZ Poetry

Over the last year New Zealand has been changed by the devastating earthquakes in Canterbury, and because of this the issue opens with a number of pieces by Christchurch writers who “bear testament to the solidarity, bravery, and artistic spirit of the people of that city”. They include a poem by Fiona Farrell about trying to deal with one of the many issues caused by the quakes – a leaking roof. Tusiata Avia’s series of poems about the quake includes the arresting ‘Finding Sepela: 22 February,’ which recreates her anxious journey to find her three-year-old daughter: “There are giant worms/ under the ground/ as big as Cairo/ they eat the fish and chip shop”.

Editor Anne Kennedy has drawn together work by many of New Zealand’s most-celebrated writers, including Albert Wendt, Elizabeth Smither, Murray Edmond and Michele Leggott. And alongside them is work by many new and up-and-coming writers, such as Lynn Jenner, winner of the 2010 best first book of poetry, and Selina Tusitala Marsh, who won the same award the year before.

The cover features a striking photogram from a sequence of portraits by Auckland photographer Jocelyn Carlin – six more from the series are reproduced inside. Drawings by Ya-Wen Ho are accompanied by poems by Renee Liang and illustrate ‘The Seven Sisters of Industry’, a Chinese name for Matariki or The Pleiades. And, in a first for JAAM, a page of a handwritten music manuscript by celebrated composer John Psathas is reproduced.

Kennedy, who now teaches creative writing, had originally studied music. Her own writing spans many forms – she’s published poetry, short fiction, novels and a novella, and has written for film. Her poetry book Sing-Song won the Montana Award for Poetry in 2004.

JAAM is published by the independent JAAM Collective based in Wellington, and is supported by funding from Creative New Zealand.