IIML
@modernletters.bsky.social
The home of creative writing at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Undergraduate courses, MA and PhD. Also: harbour views and baking.
A hilarious night for the launch of Kate Camp’s teenage diaries with commentary by adult Kate at Meow yesterday: anyone who has been to the Bad Diaries Salon at the same venue will know what to expect - Leather and Chains!
February 18, 2026 at 8:34 AM
A hilarious night for the launch of Kate Camp’s teenage diaries with commentary by adult Kate at Meow yesterday: anyone who has been to the Bad Diaries Salon at the same venue will know what to expect - Leather and Chains!
Reposted by IIML
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell review – a landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell review – a landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work
Serpell leaves no stone unturned in her deep and enriching portrait of the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre
www.theguardian.com
February 18, 2026 at 8:28 AM
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell review – a landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work
Reposted by IIML
Even though society has moved past them, I like when library books still have the little list of stamps of when they were checked out a few decades ago
February 18, 2026 at 12:33 AM
Even though society has moved past them, I like when library books still have the little list of stamps of when they were checked out a few decades ago
'Reading Iain’s poetry again, is to get his incredible wit singing in my ear, to savour the intoxicating amalgam of music, surprise, love, living and reflecting' - lovely tribute to the mischievous poet, critic, librarian and scholar Iain Sharp, who died in January
nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/02/18/p...
nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/02/18/p...
Poetry Shelf celebrates Iain Sharp (24 April 1953 – 24 January 2026)
Poetry. Dear old poetry. Your rusty relics groan on forgotten shelves of secondhand bookshops – Wordsworth and Shelley bearded with cobwebs,Spenser dispensed with, the pages of both Brownings…
nzpoetryshelf.com
February 17, 2026 at 11:35 PM
'Reading Iain’s poetry again, is to get his incredible wit singing in my ear, to savour the intoxicating amalgam of music, surprise, love, living and reflecting' - lovely tribute to the mischievous poet, critic, librarian and scholar Iain Sharp, who died in January
nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/02/18/p...
nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/02/18/p...
Reposted by IIML
New book is coming! April 2026 - 🐦⬛📖🍎❤️ it’s a defiant story written in a defiant mood 👀 bit.ly/RavensEyeReb...
February 17, 2026 at 8:21 PM
New book is coming! April 2026 - 🐦⬛📖🍎❤️ it’s a defiant story written in a defiant mood 👀 bit.ly/RavensEyeReb...
Reposted by IIML
Good on Sydney Writer’s Festival for programming as they should. “We are an independent organisation and program accordingly…” www.theage.com.au/culture/art-...
Palestinian-Australian academic to headline Sydney Writers’ Festival
The announcement comes just weeks after the Adelaide Writers’ Week event collapsed following a mass boycott when the Palestinian-Australian academic was dumped from the program.
www.theage.com.au
February 17, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Good on Sydney Writer’s Festival for programming as they should. “We are an independent organisation and program accordingly…” www.theage.com.au/culture/art-...
A night of enigmatic, previously unseen low budget gems from the archives of Nga Taonga curated by Una Cruikshank (author of the Ockham Nonfiction Award winner The Cthonic Cycle) will be screening at the Cambridge Hotel in Wellington tomorrow, 7-9 pm
Live Ghosts Ciné Club
Event in Wellington, New Zealand by Sasha Francis and Una Cruickshank on Thursday, February 19 2026
www.facebook.com
February 17, 2026 at 9:26 PM
A night of enigmatic, previously unseen low budget gems from the archives of Nga Taonga curated by Una Cruikshank (author of the Ockham Nonfiction Award winner The Cthonic Cycle) will be screening at the Cambridge Hotel in Wellington tomorrow, 7-9 pm
Our country is a park. We have the high
ground and the low ground. Our mountains
are peace flags and we’re free
to break out of bush, flax, pingao
or any dead-end ideology
onto a charged and open-ended coast.
From ‘The Uprising’, Dinah Hawken,
Best New Zealand Poems 2014
ground and the low ground. Our mountains
are peace flags and we’re free
to break out of bush, flax, pingao
or any dead-end ideology
onto a charged and open-ended coast.
From ‘The Uprising’, Dinah Hawken,
Best New Zealand Poems 2014
New: The government has introduced legislation to abolish the Ministry for the Environment as part of its plans to build a new super-agency tasked with urban development, planning, infrastructure and transport.
newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/17/g...
newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/17/g...
Govt to disband environment ministry as part of agency merger
The environment department will be abolished and folded into a new super-ministry for cities, environment, regions and transport.
newsroom.co.nz
February 17, 2026 at 8:32 AM
Our country is a park. We have the high
ground and the low ground. Our mountains
are peace flags and we’re free
to break out of bush, flax, pingao
or any dead-end ideology
onto a charged and open-ended coast.
From ‘The Uprising’, Dinah Hawken,
Best New Zealand Poems 2014
ground and the low ground. Our mountains
are peace flags and we’re free
to break out of bush, flax, pingao
or any dead-end ideology
onto a charged and open-ended coast.
From ‘The Uprising’, Dinah Hawken,
Best New Zealand Poems 2014
We too are very excited to see this book in the world: it won the 2023 Adam Foundation Prize, so it’s been a while coming, but will be worth the wait!
We're so excited to have this book coming! Lucky Creatures by Joseph Trinidad — a bold, warm, and funny debut essay collection and winner of the inaugural Sarabande Prize in the Essay, judged by Alexander Chee. Out 14 May 2026.
February 17, 2026 at 4:05 AM
We too are very excited to see this book in the world: it won the 2023 Adam Foundation Prize, so it’s been a while coming, but will be worth the wait!
Reposted by IIML
We're looking forward to sharing this with you on 14 May! Have This Heart by Lawrence Patchett is a compulsively readable story collection about men at work, men trying to do better, and what happens when your life doesn't let you hide. Tightly coiled, tender, and unforgettable.
February 17, 2026 at 2:38 AM
We're looking forward to sharing this with you on 14 May! Have This Heart by Lawrence Patchett is a compulsively readable story collection about men at work, men trying to do better, and what happens when your life doesn't let you hide. Tightly coiled, tender, and unforgettable.
70 minutes and counting!
Kate Camp's book launch is at Meow bar, Wellington in 90 minutes! And the rain has stopped for us :)
See you soon, and you can warm up for the event with this great Nine to Noon interview with Kate from this morning...
www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
See you soon, and you can warm up for the event with this great Nine to Noon interview with Kate from this morning...
www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
Kate Camp and her 1986 diary
The year was 1986 - a time defined by Ghostbusters on VHS, the height of Jazzercise tights, and the only year that acclaimed Wellington poet and author Kate Camp kept a diary.
www.rnz.co.nz
February 17, 2026 at 3:49 AM
70 minutes and counting!
Reposted by IIML
Perfect way to relaunch blog nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/02/17/p...
Poetry Shelf 2026 launches with Robert Sullivan’s Tidbits of Te Tiriti – 5
Yadayada, or Don’t Worry, It all Adds Up(Feb 17th, then) The bunting and cicadas cleared, The Herald having sailedthe middle island for the natives’ trade in blankets for curly iron gall,I snuggled…
nzpoetryshelf.com
February 16, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Perfect way to relaunch blog nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/02/17/p...
Catherine Lacey interviews Chris Kraus
L.A. legend Chris Kraus is finding answers in her sleep, and she’s not looking back
Chris Kraus and Catherine Lacey, two writers of two generations, talk mixing genres, daily schedules, and the critics.
www.latimes.com
February 17, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Catherine Lacey interviews Chris Kraus
Reposted by IIML
When in an interview long ago I mentioned Michael as a polestar, an inspiration for me, he called me out of the blue (I still have his message saved) & for hours shared stories, wisdom & advice with me. May your memory be a blessing Michael Silverblatt. It already is www.latimes.com/california/s...
Michael Silverblatt, 'genius' host of KCRW literary show 'Bookworm,' dies at 73
Silverblatt’s 30-minute show, which ran from 1989 to 2022, included interviews with celebrated authors including Gore Vidal, Kazuo Ishiguro, David Foster Wallace, Susan Orlean, Joan Didion and Zadie S...
www.latimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:11 PM
When in an interview long ago I mentioned Michael as a polestar, an inspiration for me, he called me out of the blue (I still have his message saved) & for hours shared stories, wisdom & advice with me. May your memory be a blessing Michael Silverblatt. It already is www.latimes.com/california/s...
‘These poets are reaching across time, across ways of seeing and remembering and supposing. Reading Manhire and Bornholdt is an uncomplicated pleasure in a complicated world. I am tremendously grateful for them.’ The launch day review for two of our favourite poets. thespinoff.co.nz/books/11-02-...
Uncomplicated pleasures in a complicated world: Bill Manhire and Jenny Bornholdt’s new poetry, reviewed
Two of Aotearoa’s greatest poets are launching new collections today. We review them both.
thespinoff.co.nz
February 17, 2026 at 12:33 AM
‘These poets are reaching across time, across ways of seeing and remembering and supposing. Reading Manhire and Bornholdt is an uncomplicated pleasure in a complicated world. I am tremendously grateful for them.’ The launch day review for two of our favourite poets. thespinoff.co.nz/books/11-02-...
Reposted by IIML
A Larry Levis from the past that stuck with me. Though I am trying to avoid too familiar, too important poems from my past in the next days.
Unfinished poem
Here are all the shadows that have fallen on
no one in particular
Unfinished poem
Here are all the shadows that have fallen on
no one in particular
October 27, 2025 at 5:41 PM
A Larry Levis from the past that stuck with me. Though I am trying to avoid too familiar, too important poems from my past in the next days.
Unfinished poem
Here are all the shadows that have fallen on
no one in particular
Unfinished poem
Here are all the shadows that have fallen on
no one in particular
An extract from Niamh Vaughan’s 2025 Adam Foundation Prize winning folio The World Reversed.
A memoir of growing up with an alternative thinker
The conspiracy theorist's daughter
newsroom.co.nz
February 16, 2026 at 1:13 AM
An extract from Niamh Vaughan’s 2025 Adam Foundation Prize winning folio The World Reversed.
‘You will find it in the icy sky of daybreak
above the marine light of waves
in the pages of the books of the dead
poets: Vincent who some would call
Voss, Lauris, Brian, Glover and Campbell…’
- Fiona Kidman, ‘The luminous blue’
above the marine light of waves
in the pages of the books of the dead
poets: Vincent who some would call
Voss, Lauris, Brian, Glover and Campbell…’
- Fiona Kidman, ‘The luminous blue’
February 16, 2026 at 12:05 AM
‘You will find it in the icy sky of daybreak
above the marine light of waves
in the pages of the books of the dead
poets: Vincent who some would call
Voss, Lauris, Brian, Glover and Campbell…’
- Fiona Kidman, ‘The luminous blue’
above the marine light of waves
in the pages of the books of the dead
poets: Vincent who some would call
Voss, Lauris, Brian, Glover and Campbell…’
- Fiona Kidman, ‘The luminous blue’
Reposted by IIML
The Wellington Harbour entrance buoy just recorded a 13.6 metre swell. Farrrk.
February 15, 2026 at 8:37 PM
The Wellington Harbour entrance buoy just recorded a 13.6 metre swell. Farrrk.
Reposted by IIML
When I learned to read and write, I devoured books, and I thought that they were like trees, like animals, something that is born. I didn’t know there was an author behind it all. Eventually, I discovered that that’s how it was, and I said, “I want that, too.”
— Clarice Lispector (interview, 1976)
— Clarice Lispector (interview, 1976)
February 15, 2026 at 8:48 PM
When I learned to read and write, I devoured books, and I thought that they were like trees, like animals, something that is born. I didn’t know there was an author behind it all. Eventually, I discovered that that’s how it was, and I said, “I want that, too.”
— Clarice Lispector (interview, 1976)
— Clarice Lispector (interview, 1976)
‘Forget Wuthering Heights – this is the masterpiece gothic film you should be checking out this week.’ - Claire Mabey
Review: In Mārama, the greatest horror is always colonisation
Review: In Mārama, the greatest horror is always colonisation
It’s not gore, bloodshed or cheap thrills that make Mārama a horror: it's the violent subversion of Māori culture....
thespinoff.co.nz
February 15, 2026 at 10:07 PM
‘Forget Wuthering Heights – this is the masterpiece gothic film you should be checking out this week.’ - Claire Mabey
Reposted by IIML
I wrote about Basil Bunting’s modernist masterpiece, Briggflatts — published 60 years ago this month — and what I learned from the poet’s own comments on his poem
Pinks #40: How It Feels Rubbing Down a Gravestone
Personal insights into a poetic masterpiece
someflowerssoon.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:20 AM
I wrote about Basil Bunting’s modernist masterpiece, Briggflatts — published 60 years ago this month — and what I learned from the poet’s own comments on his poem
Reposted by IIML
The awfulness of the first sentence here is obvious. As for the second sentence, I don't think they do and I don't think they do.
February 15, 2026 at 7:38 PM
The awfulness of the first sentence here is obvious. As for the second sentence, I don't think they do and I don't think they do.
Reposted by IIML
The book is in press! HK Lennon Wall cover fuck yeah ✊ @keithng.bsky.social , harking back to Te Papa's first round of Asian activist materials collections. I wrote the intro & a few other bits & bobs. Can't wait to see how Grace has let our history speak through objects in the national collection.
Between Dreams: Resistance and Representation in Asian Aotearoa | Te Papa
This landmark collection presents fresh, progressive perspectives on what it means to be ‘Asian’ in Aotearoa.
www.tepapa.govt.nz
February 14, 2026 at 3:34 AM
The book is in press! HK Lennon Wall cover fuck yeah ✊ @keithng.bsky.social , harking back to Te Papa's first round of Asian activist materials collections. I wrote the intro & a few other bits & bobs. Can't wait to see how Grace has let our history speak through objects in the national collection.
Reposted by IIML
This Ancient Egyptian board game is almost 4,000 years old!
Known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ or ‘Game of 58 holes’, its original name is unknown. It’s suggested it was played in a similar way to ‘Snakes and Ladders’.
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
Known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ or ‘Game of 58 holes’, its original name is unknown. It’s suggested it was played in a similar way to ‘Snakes and Ladders’.
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
February 14, 2026 at 11:05 AM
This Ancient Egyptian board game is almost 4,000 years old!
Known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ or ‘Game of 58 holes’, its original name is unknown. It’s suggested it was played in a similar way to ‘Snakes and Ladders’.
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
Known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ or ‘Game of 58 holes’, its original name is unknown. It’s suggested it was played in a similar way to ‘Snakes and Ladders’.
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology