{"id":1535,"date":"2016-06-03T10:02:25","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T22:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2016-06-03T10:02:25","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T22:02:25","slug":"migrant-voices-in-creative-writing-surge-at-massey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/2016\/06\/03\/migrant-voices-in-creative-writing-surge-at-massey\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrant voices in creative writing surge at Massey"},"content":{"rendered":"
International writers who now call the Manawat\u016b home are adding a distinctive vibe to Massey University\u2019s burgeoning creative writing scene.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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A surge in activity and success among Massey University staff and student creative writers \u2013 from New Zealand, as well as the United States, Britain, Latin America and Australia \u2013 reflects the growing strength and profile of its undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing programmes, says Palmerston North-based author and creative writing senior lecturer Dr Thom Conroy.<\/p>\n

Ex-pat writers offer a fresh take on New Zealand identity from the migrant\u2019s experience, says Dr Conroy, a dual American-New Zealand citizen who moved here from Ohio 11 years ago.<\/p>\n

A case in point, Dr Conroy is about to launch his second novel, titled The Salted Air<\/em>, two years after the success of his debut novel The Naturalist<\/em> \u2013 set mainly in New Zealand and based on the true story of 19th century German naturalist, botanist and explorer Dr Ernst Dieffenbach. It topped the Neilsen Weekly Bestseller list in New Zealand after its release in 2014 and was at one point selling ahead of Man Booker winner, Eleanor Catton\u2019s The Luminaries<\/em>. His next novel has a contemporary New Zealand setting, and will be launched in Palmerston North on June 3.<\/p>\n

Colleagues, as well as current and former students from the School of English and Media Studies, have been gaining a profile in both publishing and arts performance across genres in fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and theatre and film writing.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Bryan Walpert<\/a> has earned accolades for his poetry, both in New Zealand and overseas. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland and now a dual citizen, he came to the Manawat\u016b 12 years ago as the first dedicated creative writing lecturer at Massey. He\u2019s published two poetry collections and short story collection in the US. His first poetry volume to be published in New Zealand, titled Native Bird<\/em>, explores deeper nuances of adaption, with observations and feelings about his children growing up in a different place to that of his own childhood. His poem, Aubade<\/em>, featuring the Manawat\u016b\u2019s iconic wind turbines, was shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great strengths of Massey\u2019s creative writing programme,\u201d says Dr Walpert, \u201cis its combination of a New Zealand foundation and an international outlook, with staff who publish in multiple countries and bring to our teaching an experience and engagement with contemporary writing and aesthetics from both New Zealand and the global community of literary scholars and writers.”<\/p>\n

Global voices and local issues<\/h3>\n

Multi international award-winning playwright Associate Professor Angie Farrow, who came to Palmerston North from England 20 years\u2019 ago, has been inspired to write about the local environs, as well as global topics. In her 2011 play, The River<\/em>, she confronted issues of sustainability and spirituality in relation to the highly polluted Manawat\u016b River. Meanwhile, Australian-born theatre lecturer Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley\u2019s short play, Flotsam<\/em>, was performed at 10 university theatres in the US last year as part of a global theatre movement in the lead up to the Paris conference on climate change.<\/p>\n

Poet Dr Leonel Alvarado, originally from Honduras and now head of Massey\u2019s Spanish Language programme, is well known on the Manawat\u016b arts set for his evocative poetry about the Manawat\u016b river and M\u0101ori mythology. His poem, What Stones Know,<\/em> is etched into a wall of the Palmerston North City Library.<\/p>\n

As well as winning Latin American awards for his Spanish language collections, he has expressed what his new home means through poetry with the release of his first English language collection, Driving with Neruda to the Fish \u2018n\u2019 Chips<\/em>, part of the Kete Series published in 2014 by HauNui Press.<\/p>\n

Wellington press snaps up Massey poets<\/h3>\n

New Zealand publisher Mary McCallum, who heads Wellington-based M\u0101karo Press<\/a>, recently issued a press release in praise of Massey\u2019s poets. \u00a0\u201cMassey University\u00a0creative writers are\u2026making\u00a0books that are creating ripples in the New Zealand\u00a0publishing scene,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

An author herself, Ms McCallum has drawn on a range of writers in\u00a0commissioning work for the press, including some\u00a0she worked with\u00a0over the five years she\u00a0tutored\u00a0creative writing students\u00a0at\u00a0Massey\u2019s Wellington\u00a0campus and\u00a0as a distance tutor.<\/p>\n

Dr Walpert\u2019s Native Bird <\/em>was chosen for the M\u0101karo Press Hoopla series in 2015 along with collections by\u00a0Jennifer Compton \u2013 a former Massey writer-in-residence in Palmerston North \u2013 and by Dunedin writer Carolyn McCurdie.<\/p>\n

She has also\u00a0signed\u00a0contracts with more recent\u00a0Massey graduates, with Ish Doney to be published this year, as well as graduates of the Masters of Creative Writing; Sue Wootton\u2019s first novel Strip<\/em> and poet\u00a0Bridget Auchmuty\u2019s first\u00a0poetry collection.<\/p>\n

New BA creative writing major launched<\/h3>\n

A milestone this year was the introduction of a new Bachelor of Arts major in Creative Writing with undergraduate offerings, including poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, life writing, travel writing, script writing well as other creative options under the Expressive Arts pathway in theatre and film. Meanwhile, the distance Masters of Creative Writing programme, launched in 2010, is attracting more candidates each year, says Dr Conroy, who has supervised a number of writers who have gone on to win literary awards.<\/p>\n

The number of doctoral degrees in creative writing is also on the rise, with stunning examples such as award-winning Auckland poet Dr Jo Emeney, who explored the emerging field of medical humanities and wrote a new collection of poems on her mother\u2019s cancer diagnosis and treatment as part of her thesis. Poetry PhD candidates Sarah Jane Barnett and Tim Upperton have both been nominated for major poetry prizes.<\/p>\n

Critical mass for creative writing<\/h3>\n

In 2016, Massey will also co-organise the second conference of the Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network (ACWRN<\/a>) with Auckland University of Technology. The first ACWRN conference, hosted by Massey at the Wellington campus in 2014, saw creative writers from across New Zealand meeting for the first time to discuss the future of the still-emerging discipline in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

As numerous public literary events testify \u2013 from workshops, book launches, panel discussions, readings and campus arts performances to Off the Page<\/em><\/a> events through to September, the Writers Read<\/em> series \u2013 creative writing is flourishing across all three campuses.<\/p>\n

The new Massey University Press<\/a>, led by respected publisher Nicola Legat, will have creative writing on its upcoming list, including the next edition of Poetry New Zealand<\/em><\/a>, edited by poet and senior lecturer Dr Jack Ross for the past three years. He, too, has included diverse migrant voices in the annual journal. He recognises New Zealand \u201cpoetries\u201d as a \u201crich gamut of cultures and language which now exist in our islands expressing themselves in many languages and forms\u201d, and is keen to publish more M\u0101ori poetry, in Te Reo M\u0101ori and English.<\/p>\n

Massey may be best known for its teaching and research in sciences, social work and education, says Dr Conroy, but it also has strong \u2013 though less visible \u2013 tradition of excellence in creative writing and the humanities. \u201cWith the constant flow of student and staff successes these past few years, Massey\u2019s creative writing programme is finally reaching critical mass,\u201d he says. \u201cWe hope this will broaden the field of writing and expand the range of voices contributing to the literary arts in Aotearoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent successes and upcoming events:<\/p>\n