Recognition of work overwhelming, ‘affirming' for poet
A Dunedin author was overwhelmed by the recognition her book received at the country's top literature awards night.
Editor, novelist and poet Emma Neale won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in Auckland on Wednesday night.
She said she felt calm on the night but later when she was talking to her husband about it she found herself getting quite teary.
"It's been very affirming."
Mrs Neale said it was nice to be recognised by the judges who she admired quite a bit.
"To think that they've been reading your own work so closely has been just such a gift."
Mrs Neale had been writing books since the 1990s and did not expect Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit to be the book that won her an award.
Her poems were personal — one took about 30 years to write — and it was a joy for her to see so many people connect with her work.
"The connection is similar to having a wonderful conversation with someone."
She said the poem took her some time to write because she was learning to craft it in a way that was not too heavy-handed for the reader.
mark.john@odt.co.nz
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Ball on so children can have a ball
Bulletproof Convertible band members (from left) Paul Southworth, Silas Waring and Alex Ramsay will provide the music for the Dead Rockers Ball at Waitati Hall on Saturday. Photo: Gregor Richardson For more than a decade, the last thing Blueskin Bay children have been having in the playground next to the Waitati library is a ball. Waitati resident Mandy Mayhem said when the library was extended 12 years ago, all the playground equipment was removed, and all that remained in the area were a couple of trees and some berry bushes, making it a very unexciting place to play. "There's no playground — nothing for the children. "It's just crying out for some toddler play equipment." No money was budgeted to replace the playground equipment, so parents in the area are holding a fundraising event on Saturday at 7.30pm — the Waitati Dead Rockers Ball. She said the area had recently undergone maintenance work, including an expanded area with retaining wall and a new fence. So it was now a blank canvas for a few fun and accessible pieces of play equipment. "There will be some ideas and designs for local parents to be inspired by, and they can indicate what they would like to see there. "In the meantime, we are getting started on the fundraising while a community vision for the space is created." She said the Dead Rockers Ball would include prizes for the best-dressed dancer, raffles, plants and hampers to win, as well as a mystery bottle auction. Dunedin-based three-piece swamp rock band Bulletproof Convertible would provide '50s-influenced and "danceable as hell" music for the ball.
NZ Herald
08-08-2025
- NZ Herald
Grammy-winning country artist Jelly Roll to perform in New Zealand for first time
NZ Herald Afternoon News Update | Luxon's tour of CRL and man accused of killing Lyn Fleming named. Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. 8 Aug, 2025 02:00 AM 2 mins to read Global superstar country artist Jelly Roll will play his first New Zealand concert in Auckland this November. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter is set to play Western Springs as part of his Down Under 2025 Tour on November 8. Pre-sale tickets are on sale from 3pm today until 3pm on August 11. The general release sale starts at 4pm on August 11. The tour is slated to showcase his 2024 album Beautifully Broken and recent radio hit Liar, which has topped country music charts in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Otago Daily Times
03-08-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Leadlighter still keen at 90
A Dunedin leadlighter who has just turned 90 plans to keep at his craft until he no longer can. Chris Watts' work can be seen across Otago, displayed in museums, fitted on houses, decorating churches and welcoming patrons into pubs. "Oh, they're all over Dunedin ... At the Rope and Twine, the Law Courts, in First Church — all around the place," Mr Watts said. He had been in the leadlight game for 50 years and had no plans to slow down, despite celebrating his 90th birthday last Thursday. "I might hang around for a bit longer, there's only 90 years gone but there's a few more to go here I think." Mr Watts has attempted to pass on his knowledge four times, but every budding leadlighter quickly grew frustrated and gave up the craft. "It's such a concentrated job ... It's a lot of patience, and they just didn't want to know — they'd rather wait for payday. "There's room for it if somebody wants to take it up, but it's that patience you've got to have." Mr Watts was born in England in 1935 and after his mother "ran off with a boarder" he was placed in an orphanage. He was shuttled between foster homes and orphanages throughout his childhood and was twice buried in rubble during the blitz in World War 2. "Eight foster homes — they didn't want me, they just wanted the money with it, and when they got fed up they sent me back to the home. That's how it worked." He moved to New Zealand after marrying his wife Pauline Watts — whom he wooed when planting a kiss on her while locked in a pie factory's walk-in freezer. Mrs Watts was engaged to another man at the time and her then fiance's mother was on the other side of the freezer door. "She did not approve the match," he said. It had always been Mrs Watts' dream to move to New Zealand, and he had "nowhere to go anyways", Mr Watts said. The pair jumped on the last Ten Pound Pom ship to New Zealand from Britain and never looked back. "She said, 'do you mind?' I said, 'I don't care'." One of Mr Watts' latest leadlight works was a piece with the birth flowers of his granddaughter's children. His daughter, Karen Fraser, said the piece was a surprise. "My daughter had 10 pregnancies, and she's now got three living children ... So Dad's just done this amazing piece showing their birth flowers." He also made two panels to be auctioned off at a gala day in Weston in support of his great-grandson's medical costs. "Dad did that to raise funds for Billy, who was born with holoprosencephaly, which is a part of his brain missing." They got $1000 each for the two panels. "Dad's quite clever, and he definitely knows it," Mrs Fraser said.
