Thursday, November 6, 2014

Dear Reader...

 
Q: What does this bird in my back
yard (^) have to do with that new
book (below)?
 
A: Turn to page 100 and you will
find the answer.



A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children is now for sale in bookshops (such as The Womens Bookshop) and available to borrow from libraries (such as Auckland Libraries).

Im very lucky to have had a little bit of poetry chosen for this beautiful book. I dont think Im spoiling anything if I tell you that what I wrote was inspired by the view out my bedroom window – of a silvereye or tauhou (stranger, the Maori word for this small self-introduced bird), eating a crabapple. I took the photo in autumn 2013 and wrote the poem shortly afterwards.

The wonderful and apparently inexhaustible Paula Green has taken the Treasury on a tour around New Zealand, visiting schools and organising events for local contributors. She’s also published a whole series of interviews with poets whose work is in its pages. Theyre on her Poetry Box blog: my interview is here.

Congratulations to all who made this book possible, and who made it happen.