A Book published, and a play:

• Ingrid Horrocks launched a co-edited book (with Cherie Lacey), Extraordinary Anywhere: Essays on Place from Aotearoa New Zealand (Wellington, Victoria  University Press, 2016) at Unity Books, Wellington,  on Tuesday 26 July. http://vup.victoria.ac.nz/extraordinary-anywhere-essays-on-place-from-aotearoa-new-zealand/ Three essays by School of English and Media Studies staff are included in the collection:
  • Horrocks, I.A. with Cherie Lacey, “Writing Here” (8-20).
  • Horrocks, I.A. “Writing Pukeahu: A Year (and More) of Walking in Place” (78-93).
  • Ross, J. “On the Road to Nowhere: Revisiting Samuel Butler’s Erewhon (131-45).
  • The book is also a collaboration with two designer researchers from the College of Creative Arts, Jo Bailey and Anna Brown.

Ingrid Horrocks discussed the collection with Wallace Chapman and Professor Harry Ricketts on Radio NZ: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley’s play ‘Waiting for Go’, was performed at the ‘Short+Sweet International Short Play Festival 2016 Canberra Season, Week 1 Top 20 plays’, Canberra Theatre Centre, 9-12 August.

‘Waiting for Go’ at the Canberra Short & Sweet Festival, featuring Ben Harris and Samuel Gordon Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of articles and book chapters appeared by English and Media Studies staff:

• Hazou, Rand T. (2016, January 1). “Performing digital: Multiple perspectives on a living archive” [Book Review]. Australasian Drama Studies, (68), 209-213.
• Hazou, Rand. (2016, January 1). Real men at play: Massive Company’s the Brave. Australasian Drama Studies, (68), 97-117.
• Gruber, D.R. (2016). “A review of ‘American Lobotomy: A Rhetorical History’ by Jenell Johnson” [Book Review] Configurations2: 263-265.  See http://muse.jhu.edu/article/626106
• Ross, Jack. “Company.” In An Encounter in the Global Village: Selected Stories from the 14th International Conference on the Short Story in English (English-Chinese). Ed. Jin Hengshan. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, July 2016. 366-77.
• Ross, Jack. “Eketahuna.” In Influence and Confluence: East and West. A Global Anthology on the Short Story. Ed. Maurice A. Lee. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, July 2016. 388-95.
• Simon Sigley published two videos, Loren from Wellington and Ken from Dunedin in the interviewprojectnz.com series of portraits of ‘ordinary’ New Zealanders.
• Steer, Philip had an essay published: ‘Colonial Ecologies’, in A History of New Zealand Literature, (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
• Huffer, Ian had an article published: ‘New Zealand film on demand: searching for national cinema online’ in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, Vol 30, Issue.
• Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley had an article published: ‘Theatre in the Age of Climate Change: An Educator’s View’, in Howlround: A knowledge commons by and for the theatre community, Boston, MA: Office of the Arts, Emerson College.

Staff made connections and gave presentations around New Zealand and around the world:

• Dr Thom Conroy was a panel member at the Hamilton Book Month Fiction Panel, Hamilton, 17 August.
• Dr Kevin Glynn travelled to Santa Muerte to conduct Marsden funded fieldwork and also to [participate in a workshop on neoliberalism and urban poverty.
• Associate Professor Joe Grixti presented: ‘Indigenous Media and the Disjunctive Flows of Globalization’, and chaired a panel at the ‘XI European Conference on Social and Behavioural Sciences’, Sapienza University, Rome, 1 – 4 September.
• Dr Ingrid Horrocks presented ‘“I am strangely displaced”: Troubling Romantic Mobilities’, at the ‘North-American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference’, University of California, Berkeley, USA, 11-14 August.
• Dr Mary Paul presented: ‘Substitution and seclusion in Life Writing teaching’, at ‘Ahi Ka: Building the Fire’creative writing conference, AUT, Auckland, 10 September.
• Dr Jack Ross attended a short story conference in Shanghai from 12-16 July 2016 and gave the following presentations:

Jack Ross: “Settler & Speculative Fiction in the NZ Short Story: A Tale of Two Anthologies,” a paper given at the 14th International Conference on the Short Story in English: “Influence and Confluence in the Short Story: East and West” (East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 13-16 July 2016).

Jack Ross: Member of Plenary Panel on “Influence and Confluence in the Short Story: East and West” at  the 14th International Conference on the Short Story in English, with Dr Hensheng Jin (chair) and fellow-panellists Fang Fang, Yu Hua, Zhao Mei, Su Tong, Bi Feiyu, Robert Olen Butler, and Evelyn Conlon (East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 13-16 July 2016).

Jack Ross: Member of Panel on “‘The V word’ – Voice in the New Zealand Short Story” at  the 14th International Conference on the Short Story in English: “Influence and Confluence in the Short Story: East and West,” with Tracey Slaughter (chair) and fellow-panellists Bronwyn Lloyd, Frankie McMillan and Leanne Radojkovich (East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 13-16 July 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Dr Jack Ross presented: ‘What should a magazine called Poetry NZ look like?’, and gave a Poetry Reading: ‘Poetry Adventures on and off the page’, at the University of Canberra Poetry Festival, 6-16 September.
• Dr Philip Steer presented a co-authored paper: ‘Signatures of the Carboniferous: Coal Power in the Age of Man’, at the ‘V-Cologies conference’, Davis University, California, 16-17 September.
• Dr Sy Taffel’s film: ‘Connect to the Heartland’, was screened as part of a Palmerston North-based Massey Residence Halls film night, 27 September and at Takaro Rotary Club in Palmerston North, 29 September.
• Dr Kim Worthington presented a co-authored paper: ‘Reading Coetzee’s Women’, at a Conference hosted by Monash University in Prato, Italy, 27-29 September.
• Associate Professor Bryan Walpert gave a presentation, ‘Border Crossers: Identity, Place and New Zealand Voice(s)’, at the ‘Ahi Ka: Building the Fire’ creative writing conference, AUT, Auckland, 10 September.

The School hosted a conference on Creative Writing: Building the Fire

• On 10 and 11 September, Dr Thom Conroy, English and Media Studies, organised ‘Ahi Ka: Building the Fire’, the second creative writing colloquium sponsored by the Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network. The colloquium was co-organised with the Auckland University of Technology and held at their city campus. The conference committee consisted of Dr Thom Conroy and Associate Professor Bryan Walpert from the School of English and Media Studies, and James George from AUT. The keynote speaker was the Pasifika poet and lecturer Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahi Ka: Building the Fire keynote speaker Selina Tusitala Marsh     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Thom Conroy at ‘Ahi Ka: Building the Fire’

 

And hosted events that allowed others to connect and imagine together:

• July 1 saw 187 high school students and teachers hosted on Wellington campus for the Create1World Global Citizenship and Creative Activism Conference. Attendees heard from 16 national and international creative activists via a global Zoom linkup, heard the Kiwi students who were chosen as finalists in the national #Create1World competition present their song-writing, performance, media and creative writing entries for judging, and got together to brainstorm creative solutions to planetary problems, which will be presented as a report to political leaders.  Radio New Zealand covered the conference here: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/201807707/creative-activism

Lizzie Marvelly, BA graduate and guest judge, with finalists from Wellington College; a team of six performers from St Cuthbert’s College in Auckland took out first place in the performance category with their short play ‘Stories of Syria’.

 

 

 

 

 

• The School’s series, ‘Creativity at the Centre’, presented award winning Austrian author Julienne van Loon at the Manawatu Campus on 17 August.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Hosted ‘Chicago Style Improvised Theatre: A Weekend Immersion Workshop’, in the Wellington Theatre Lab on 12 August.
• On 28 September, ‘Pukeahu ki Tua Think Differently Wellington’ sponsored: ‘Imagining Together’, a multidisciplinary panel discussion about creativity at Wellington campus organised by Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley, School of English and Media Studies, Ms Stella Robertson, College of Creative Arts, and Dr Martina Battisti, Massey Business School. The panellists: Juliette Hogan, (Fashion Designer),  David Clayton, (Animation Supervisor, Weta Digital), Jason O’Hara, (Artist/Photographer), Greg Ellis, (Theatre/Comedy), Dr  Ingrid Horrocks, School of English and Media Studies, (Creative Writer), and Warren Maxwell, (Musician), explored the differences and similarities in their creative process through a discussion of risk and uncertainty in creative careers.

 

 

‘Imagining Together’, Wellington Campus, 28 September

 

 

 

 

 

Another 2 books, a special issue of a journal, and a play

Dr Thom Conroy had his second novel published: The Salted Air published by Random House Books New Zealand. The Salted Air was ranked in the top ten (2^nd, 6^th, 9^th then 8^th) on the Nielsen Weekly Bestsellers List during the month of June peaking at number two for the week ending 4 June.

http://sites.massey.ac.nz/expressivearts/2016/05/04/the-salted-air-a-new-novel-by-thom-conroy/

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/201803396/the-salted-air

 

 

 

 

Associate Professor Angie Farrow’s full-length play The Politician’s Wife had its debut at Palmerston North’s Centrepoint Theatre mid-June and at Wellington’s BATS Theatre at the end of June. The play was shortlisted for the Adam Prize 2016, the country’s top playwriting award.

 

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=59E135DD-FAA2-6B5E-57B9-CDB922AFE6E3

 

 

Associate Professor Lisa Emerson had a book published online: The forgotten tribe: Scientists as writers, by the WAC clearinghouse and the University Press of Colorado.

http://wac.colostate.edu/books/emerson/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Kim Worthington, Dr Celina Bortolotto, Dr Allan Meek and Dr Jenny Lawn co‐edited an issue of the Australian e‐journal borderlands on the theme, ‘The Limits of Responsibility,’ and co‐wrote the introduction.

Three journal articles from English & Media Studies were included:

Lawn, J., Bortolotto, C., Worthington, K., & Meek, A. (2015). ‘The limits of responsibility’;

Meek, A. (2015). ‘Cultural trauma, biopolitics and the limits of responsibility’; and

Tutor Mr Nick Allen’s honours essay: ‘Memory Shards: A Site of Hope in post‐Apartheid South Africa’.

http://www.borderlands.net.au/issues/vol14no2.html

 

A number of articles and book chapters appeared by English and Media Studies Staff

Dr David Gruber had an article published: ‘Reinventing the brain, revising neurorhetorics: Phenomenological networks contesting neurobiological interpretations’, in Rhetoric Review 35(3): 239-253.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07350198.2016.1179004

Dr Ingrid Horrocks and Dr Philip Steer had a book chapters published in A History of New Zealand Literature, ed. Mark Williams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Horrocks, I. Chapter One: ‘A World of Waters: Imagining, Voyaging, Embarkation.’

Steer, P. Chapter Six: ‘Colonial ecologies: Guthrie-Smith’s Tutira and writing in the settled environment.’

 

http://www.cambridge.org/nz/academic/subjects/literature/english-literature-general-interest/history-new-zealand-literature?format=HB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Ingrid Horrocks had an article and accompanying interview published: ‘Something else is going on, an interaction, an exchange: Martin Edmond’s Painted Lives,’ in Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 38.3 (Summer 2015): 491‐511.

https://uhpjournals.wordpress.com/tag/ingrid-horrocks/

 

More Creative Outputs and Recognitions 

Associate Professor Angie Farrow’s play: ‘The Real Thing’, was performed at the Inspirato International Theatre Festival in Toronto in early June.

Associate Professor Bryan Walpert: had three poems published in the literary journal Ika 4, edited by Anne Kennedy; and gave an invited reading of his work at the Ika launch in Auckland on 14 May.

Associate Professor Bryan Walpert, School of English and Media Studies, was invited to join the Academy of New Zealand Literature.

A new short play addressing climate change by Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley, School of English and Media Studies, called ‘Waiting for Go’, was shortlisted at the Short and Sweet play festivals in both Brisbane and Canberra during June. Each festival receives several hundred entries, with only the top 10% shortlisted.

 

Staff gave presentations and talks both local and international

Dr Pansy Duncan presented: ‘Exploding the Frame’, at the ‘Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand’ conference, Sydney, Australia, 29 June – 1 July.

Dr David Gruber presented: ‘Suasive Speech: A Stronger Defense of Rhetoric and Futures for Cognitive Poetics’, at the ‘Cognitive Futures in the Humanities’ Conference’, Helsinki, Finland, 13-15 June.

Dr Rand Hazou presented: ‘Presenting the Theatrical Past: Interplays of Artefacts, Discourses and Practices’, at the International Federation of Theatre conference in Stockholm, Sweden, 13-17 June.

 Dr Nick Holm presented: ‘Against the Assault of Laughter: Differentiating Critical and Resistant Humour,’ at the Comedy and Critical Thought Conference, 3 and 4 May, University of Kent, UK.

Dr Mary Paul was a panel member on: ‘The Great Kiwi Classic Face‐Off ‐ speaking for New Zealand writer Robin Hyde as the Great Kiwi Classic Author,’ at the Auckland Writers Festival, 14 May.

Dr Erin Mercer presented: ‘Haunting and Spectrality in the Work of Jack Kerouac’, at the ‘Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand’ conference, Sydney, Australia, 29 June – 1 July.

 

And we hosted a number of research events

Dr Philip Steer organised and hosted an exciting visit by Professor John Plotz, Brandeis University, to the Manawatu campuse. https://www.brandeis.edu/departments/english/faculty/plotz.html

Amongst other events, on Monday 30 May Professor Plotz ran a Masterclass on the topic, “The Anthropocene and Method in the Humanities”.

This was part of a cluster of events on The Anthropocene held in May and June, in collaboration with Massey’s new Political Ecology Research Centre (PERC). Dr Nick Holm and Dr Sy Taffel also gave talks on the topic of the Anthropocene as well as presenting at the College’s ‘Humanities Engagement Series’ focussing on ‘The Land: Resilience and Co-Existence’. These events were run as part of the W. H. Oliver Humanities Research Academy series over the month of June.

PERC: http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=E8028EB9-DEFB-B0D4-EA0D-96D15684918D

Humanities Research Academy: http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/departments/centres-research/oliver-academy/oliver-academy_home.cfm

Kia Mau Hui: on June 14, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences facilitated and hosted an important international indigenous theatre hui at the Wellington campus, involved Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley. The hui aimed to enable local indigenous artists to connect with indigenous festival directors and staff from Australia and Canada and to develop future collaborations.  There were 32 attendees including a number of international indigenous artists. The hui provided an important development opportunity for local theatre artists to pitch to international festival staff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The School also hosted presentations on various campuses as part of the W.H. Oliver Research Academy Research Series:

You can see the full programme and recordings of some of the seminars here.