Writing success

Congratulations to Faith Oxenbridge for winning the Sunday Star Times short story competition.

You can read her story here

This is what the judge had to say:
Commentary by Carl Nixon, judge of the Open Division of the Sunday Star-Times Short Story Competition. (nb: all stories were judged with the author’s name removed).

As is now usual for this long running and highly regarded competition this year’s entries were numerous and varied. There were more than 600 entries. They came from all over the country and reflected a wide range of ethnic backgrounds; Maori, Pasifika, Asian, and European, in keeping with New Zealand’s multicultural nature. There was also a pleasing diversity in genders, ages, sexual orientation, occupations and incomes of the characters. Stories of New Zealanders abroad added colour and variety. Judging them all was not easy. Here are my choices for the top stories of 2013.

The WINNER: What You Have, by Faith Oxenbridge
On first reading this story immediately struck me as a contender for the top prize. With subsequent rereading the writer’s seemingly effortless artistry became more and more apparent. A story that explores grief and the mental illness of a parent, it is however never bleak or overwrought. What You Have is told in the second person and by using you throughout it draws the reader in and makes them complicit in the events. Although this technique is difficult to sustain the author does not miss a beat. Equally difficult to sustain are the frequent shifts in time between past and present, but once again, they are never jarring, always timely, and in the service of the story. Beautifully controlled use of simile and metaphor and a wry tone in what could have been a depressing tale combine to make What You Have a clear winner.

Well done Faith!

Great writing

Fantastic results from our students and staff at the New Zealand Flash Fiction Awards:

FIRST PRIZE

In the nick of time, a deer by Frankie McMillan,  Christchurch

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Clatter, Clatter by Jackie Watson, Canterbury

Gone Eeling by Melanie Dixon,  Christchurch

The ice cream boy by Frankie McMillan, Christchurch

REGIONAL PRIZES

Canterbury – Frankie McMillan, In the nick of time, a deer

6 out of the 21 stories longlisted for the NZ Flash Fiction awards came from the Hagley Writer's Institute students and staff. Congratulations to students Celia Coyne, Melanie Dixon, Brindi Joy and Jackie Watson and tutor, Frankie McMillan who had 2 stories in the list – they have done the Institute proud.

Hagley Creative Writers

Have a look at the poems and stories on the Christchurch Art Gallery website by the Level 2 Creative Writing class. Students would love comments so go ahead on any stories or poems you especially like. Commenting is easy and doesn't require registration.

I stumbled into their lair on accident, and found myself in a madhouse of reptilian decree. I immediately froze, in a vain hope they had not noticed me in my peculiarity, but my attempts were feeble, I had been seen. I felt a cold sweat and a shiver ran down my spine as they glared at me with beady black eyes from a nebulous of smoke and dust that choked the room.
Click here to read the rest of the story of these fictive fiends (by Phil White)
  Lizard's lounge


Contributors:
Isla Reeves
Rhiana Dearden
Ben Jones
Corey Anderson
Phil White
Caitlin Watkins
Thomas Crimmins

You can search all of the Hagley stories here: search by author

Hagley Writers excel

Hagley Writers' Institute tutors, Frankie McMillan and Kerrin Sharpe feature in the online poetry collection, Best NZ Poems, edited by Poet Laureate, Ian Wedde . This is a prestigious anthology reflecting, as it says, the very best of NZ poetry and is published annually by the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University.  You can check out the website here -
Best NZ poems

 Frankie McMillan is a short story writer and poet. She completed an MA at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University in 1998. Her publications include The Bag Lady’s Picnic and other stories and a collection of poetry, Dressing for the Cannibals. Her short stories have been included in Best New Zealand Fiction (Vintage, 2008 and 2009). In 2005 she was the recipient of the CNZ Todd Bursary. In 2009 she won the New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition.

Kerrin P Sharpe is a poet and teacher of creative writing. She completed the Victoria University Original Composition Programme taught by Bill Manhire in 1976. Her poems have appeared in many journals including Hue & Cry, JAAM, the Listener, Poetry New Zealand, Sport, Takah?, Turbine, the London Grip, Snorkel and the Press, Best New Zealand Poems 08, 09 and 10, and in The Best of the Best New Zealand Poems. In 2008 she was awarded the New Zealand Post Creative Writing Teachers’ award from the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her debut poetry collection, three days in a wishing well, was published by Victoria University Press in 2012. A selection of her poems will appear in Oxford Poets 2013 from Carcanet Press later this year.

April Fool's Day writing

ESOL students have been doing free writing in class to boost their skills. It is an on demand piece written within one class. Nav has put together this stunning poster that showcases writing from the class. This piece is by Andrew Chun of 12EAP.

Shape Poem

-->

A 

descending

drizzle of tiny

clear crystals, hitting

the sharp blades of grass

and the glass of windows, sliding,

racing one another down to the pane.

Her reflection is captured as she watches,

the image of her features almost trapped in the

splattering glass. The pitters and the patters accelerating

as she observes the sparkling droplets collecting on the rim of

the panes. She watches intently as ducks plop and paddle through

the Puddles, their webbed feet disappearing beneath the shallow murky

surface. In a flash, they shake their matted down, the yellow blur a bright

contrast to the drab fog. Her gaze drifts from them but remains fixed on

the drizzle before her. And then, suddenly, the rain abruptly comes to a

halt, everything still and silent. Almost imperceptibly, the sun peeks out

from behind the clouds which conceal it, illuminating. The

droplets remain clinging to the blades of green,

glinting like tiny shards of glass.

It’s over. For now. 

By Clementine Page 9Bt

Asmita's poem

Asmita has kindly recorded her poem for you to listen to. You can access it here:
Asmita's poem

A poem by one of our students

 

Just Because

Just because I don’t live with my family

Doesn’t mean they don’t want me

Doesn’t mean they don’t care

And doesn’t mean I don’t have one

Just because I lost my Dad

Doesn’t mean I’ll forget him

Doesn’t mean I’ll stop my life to grieve

And doesn’t mean I’ll end my life because his ended

Just because I haven’t been to school in a while

Doesn’t mean I’m uneducated

Doesn’t mean I’m stupid

And doesn’t mean I won’t succeed in life

Just because I’m young

Why judge people by a book?

Why put them down?

Will you regret judging me?

You don’t know my story

Just your own.

by

Kerri-Lee Elcock

A poem by one of our adult students

Just because- Poem 7-2-13 

Just because I am in my middle age and have gone through some challenges in life

Doesn’t mean I can’t change my life.

Doesn’t mean I can’t review my weak points

And it doesn’t mean that I stop believing in myself

Doesn’t mean I can’t study again.

Doesn’t mean people need to judge me

Doesn’t mean everyone had a great child hood.

Just because I am in my middle age and have gone through some challenges in life

Doesn’t mean I’m not giving myself a second chance

Doesn’t mean I do not go forward

Doesn’t mean I don’t fulfill my dream.

Just because I am in my middle age and have gone through some challenges in life

I hope we can all make each day another chance to blossom in the life tree.

Do think I should stop study age 21?

Do you think student must be young?

Do you have courage to sit in class with youth?

I have courage to start fresh.

I love my school, teacher and my giving me brain storm for better education.

Just because I am in my middle age and have gone through some challenges in life

Asmita Makwana