Helen Lowe's Blog, page 114
May 3, 2016
An Evening with the Selwyn Writers’ Salon
Joanna Preston
The Selwyn Writers’ Salon has recently been launched by award-winning Christchurch poet and editor, Joanna Preston.
The idea of the Salon is to provide somewhere that local writers and literary enthusiasts can get together to talk about books and writing, share things they’ve written recently, and listen to guest speakers talk about aspects of their own writing practice.
I was delighted to be the Salon’s second guest yesterday evening and meet some new faces from the Selwyn and...
May 2, 2016
Tuesday Poetry: “Ode to Autumn” by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
…Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
…With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
…And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
……To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
…With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
…For summer has o’er-br...
May 1, 2016
Five Magical Kisses from “The Wall of Night” Series — Plus More Supernatural Underground Goodness
Last month I shone the Supernatural Underground spotlight on Five Romantic Moments from the The Wall of Night series.
This month, my Supernatural Underground post takes the next romantic step and checks out five magical kisses:
“In talking romance, nothing is more magical than a kiss, so today, I thought I’d share some of those magical moments: whether light-hearted, star-crossed, or the classic true love’s kiss …”
USA
UK/AU/NZ
To investigate the magic for yourself, click on:
Five Magical Kis...April 28, 2016
Some ANZAC-themed NZ Children’s Books
This has been an ANZAC week on the blog, from acknowledging ANZAC Day itself on Monday, through ANZAC-themed poetry on Tuesday, to yesterday and the famous ANZAC Memorial penned by M. Kemal Atatürk in 1934.
On Monday, I reflected on the dearth of ANZAC novels in the century that has elapsed since WW1, and the 71 years since WW2 ended. However, I’ve continued to check out what’s available and am pleased to have identified a few more ANZAC-themed children’s novels that have been published over...
April 27, 2016
The ANZAC Memorial: The Words of M. Kemal Atatürk
‘Atatürk memorial in Wellington’ – Ministry for Culture & Heritage; credit Jamie Mackay, 2011
Today I’m continuing this week’s ANZAC theme, which began on Monday 25, ANZAC Day itself, with a look at the place of our country’s ANZAC heritage in the NZ novel—or not, as seems more the case. On Tuesday I shared some examples of the same theme in NZ poetry.
Today I’m focusing on the ANZAC conflict from the other side; in this case the famous ANZAC Memorial penned by M. Kemal Atatürk in 1934. Kemal...
April 26, 2016
Big Worlds On Small Screens & “Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren’t That Bad”—Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Return To Oz”
~ by Rebecca Fisher
Children’s films of the Eighties and early Nineties are notorious for being completely and utterly terrifying. True story: my second cousin was so traumatized by the filmic adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches that her parents had to take her to a therapist. In re-watching Return to Oz to refresh my memory for the sake of this review, I was astounded to think it was ever considered appropriate for children at all!
Maybe we were a lot tougher back when I was a kid; maybe...
April 25, 2016
ANZAC Day and Poetry
Yesterday was ANZAC Day and I posted on the — apparent — dearth of NZ novels that addressed the ANZAC heritage in terms of either WW1 or WW2.
The case is not the same for poetry, however. A few years ago I featured a blog series on war poetry and quite a few of those poems commemorate the ANZAC experience, from a number of different perspectives. Here are the links to those poems now, as part of my own ANZAC commemoration.
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Ellen’s Vigil by Lorna Staveley Anker A copy of this poem lies in th...
April 24, 2016
ANZAC Day & the NZ Novel
April 25 is ANZAC day, the day in which New Zealanders and Australians jointly commemorate their dead of the First and Second World wars.
Symbolised by the red poppies of the Flanders fields where so much of World War one was fought, and by dawn ceremonies at war memorials throughout the country, the date marks the landing of British and allied troops at Gallipoli, in Turkey, on April 25, 1915.
ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps, which is why April 25 is marked in both countrie...
April 23, 2016
One of my favourite places …
This is one of my favourite places — I was going to say, “in the whole world”, but since I haven’t actually seen the whole world, I will say “in New Zealand” and/or “that I have visited.”
It’s in the Lewis Pass national reserve, which in its entirety is the “favourite place”, and this particular shot was taken near the Maruia River.
Enjoy. 
April 22, 2016
Oops — Forgot To Tell You What They’re All About!
Yesterday I shared that the first two novels in Julie Czerneda’s Night’s Edge (Marrowdell) series had just arrived, but I forgot to tell you what they’re all about, which I usually do!
So here’s the backcover text for A Turn Of Light, (Night’s Edge #1):
“The village of Marrowdell is an isolated pioneer community, but it is also the place where two worlds overlap, and at the turn of light–sunset–the world of magic known as the Verge can briefly be seen.
Jenn Nalynn belongs to both Verge and Ma...
