Press Release: 12 June 2020

International Writers’ Workshop NZ Inc (IWW) is delighted to announce that renowned New Zealand poet Siobhan Harvey, who lectures at AUT in Auckland, will judge The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems later this year.

Harvey was the winner of the award in 2019 for her sequence of poems titled Ghosts.

The prize of $1000 – which is made possible due to an ongoing bequest from the Jocelyn Grattan Charitable Trust – is for a cycle or sequence of unpublished poems that has a common link or theme. This is the twelfth year IWW has had the honour of organising the Prize.

The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems is sometimes referred to as the ‘Little Grattan’ as the Jocelyn Grattan Charitable Trust also funds the biennial Kathleen Grattan Award, run by Landfall / Otago University Press. Harvey won the Kathleen Grattan Award in 2013.

The competition is free for IWW members to enter. It is very easy for aspiring poets and writers to join IWW to be eligible to enter their poetry in the competition.

Previous winners over the past six years include: Harvey (2019) Heather Bauchop (2018), Janet Newman (2017), Michael Giacon (2016) Maris O’Rourke (2015) and Julie Ryan (2014.)

Harvey said: “I’m honoured to be asked to judge the 2020 IWW Kathleen Grattan Award for a Sequence of Poems. IWW does such important and integral work to foster and support writing talent within Aotearoa, and it’s humbling to think I have the task of judging this significant poetry competition. As a previous winner and runner up of the competition, I know the high standard of submissions I am already looking forward to receiving. In these challenging times, poetry continues to offers us the power of story, song and vision; all of which are needed now as much as ever.”

About the Judge

Siobhan Harvey is an award-winning author of six poetry books.

She is a Lecturer at The Centre for Creative Writing, Auckland University of Technology and has taught creative writing across New Zealand and the UK.

In 2019, Harvey judged the National Flash Fiction Competition and as well as winning the Kathleen Grattan Prize, she won the Robert Burns Poetry prize.

Preparatory Workshop

As well as judging the competition, Harvey will conduct a workshop on Writing Poetry at IWW’s meeting venue, the Lindisfarne Room at St Aidans Church, 97 Onewa Road, Northcote, Auckland on Tuesday June 16. Doors open at 10 am and the workshop runs from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm.

Visitors are welcome to attend the workshop for a $10 visitor fee. Any visitor who attends the workshop and joins IWW by the third Tuesday in July will be eligible to enter The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems and will have the visitor fee deducted from their joining fee.

About the Competition and about IWW

The rules for the competition, details of how to join IWW, meeting times and other activities of the workshop, which meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month from February to November and runs several competitions a year, are available from the IWW website: iww.co.nz.

Key Dates for The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems in 2020

16 June: Workshop with Siobhan Harvey on writing poetry.

21 July: Last day for new members to join IWW to be eligible to enter this year’s Prize.

6 October: Closing date for entries.

17 November: Announcement of the 2020 winner of The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems.

For further information about the Prize or about IWW, please contact IWW President, Duncan Perkinson (email iww-writers@outlook.com) or check out the website iww.co.nz.