brief

The other New Zealand literary journal

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Durer Wheel of Fortune/ Ship of FoolsAs you can tell by the out-of-date state of our website, brief is in need of some help.

We are looking for volunteers to update the website with news of publications, events, launches, and et cetera. No web design skills necessary, familiarity with wp an advantage.

Unfortunately the only payment for this, like anything to do with brief,  is the satisfaction of knowing you are magnanimously helping an interesting journal.

If this sounds like you, please drop us a line.

Launch: Vaughan Rapatahana, Novel

Book launch for Novel (Rangitawa Publishing, 2018)

Novel by Vaughan RapatahanaThe rapidly developing action in Novel straddles Aotearoa New Zealand, Hong Kong SAR, Philippines and beyond. In our contemporary world of increasing electronic surveillance from hegemonic national administrations, several diverse characters struggle to survive to resist in a variety of ways. At the same time the so-called established methods of writing fiction undergo deconstruction.

 

Who: Vaughan Rapatahana. Introduction by Roger Horrocks
When: Sunday 10 March, 2.pm
Where: Nectar Lounge, Kingslander Hotel, New North Road, Auckland.

The novel has a highly visual cinematic quality to it, cutting quickly from scene to scene while letting the action speak for itself. Its uncluttered narrative held my attention to the last page. It deserves a wide readership. – Bob Orr

Central Auckland Poets: Poetry in the Garden

Poetry in the Garden


What: 45 page chapbook featuring the work of new poetry group CAP (Central Auckland Poets)

Who:  Michael Giacon, Gillian Roach, Alexandra Fraser, Lincoln Jaques, Denise O’Hagan.
Chapbook designed by Anna Marshall and published by CAPpress.

 

to open the gate to the beautiful garden
open the gate

While stocks last!

Issue 56 Looking for a copy of brief 56? If you don’t get one from us, you can find brief at the following retailers: Unity Books Auckland, Vic Books Wellington, Unity Books Wellington, Volume One Nelson, Unity Online.

Poetry reading, Auckland

Lounge #65

 

lounge 65

Illustration by Marc Conaco

When: Wednesday 17 October, 5.30-7 pm
Where: Old Government House, cnr Princes St and Waterloo Quadrant, CBD, Auckland.
Who: MC Erena Shingade with readings from Richard von Sturmer, Jack Ross, Iain Britton, Selina Ershadi, JM Francis, Amber French, Chris Holdaway, Renee Liang, Bobby Park and Sam Te Kani.

Number 65 in a popular series of poetry readings hosted by the University of Auckland in the Old Government House lounge.

Issue 56 Supplement: The Only Time

Below are full colour reproductions of four paintings by John Downie which appear alongside their texts, in black and white, in brief issue 56. To mark the transition, we have also included a further poem and image by Downie here: Black White Colour.

John Downie’s book, The Only Time: an autobiography in twelve pictures, is forthcoming from Steele Roberts this year. (Click images to view them in more detail).

1967

The only time
Black and white changed
Into colour
I was in the very room

A forward sense of myself
Had sneaked me
Through a broken back-window
Into the Magic Theatre
Convinced I alone could manipulate and mix up
Puppets, masks, light
With disputational voices
Into the reality
Of an illusion

However

The apparatus already had its own ideas
About the polychromatic possibilities
Of the spectacle

In which as many lives
As were seemingly being lived
In every scoured quarter of the Earth
Could be elided through past and future
Into a perpetual present
Pixellating pure motion
Incessant song
Agonies of the heart
Ecstasies of commodification
Bleeding scarifications of the political will

All together

Into vibrant, cool
Illusions of a reality
Available, night and day
With no more required effort
Than the restless flicking
Of opposable thumbs

Without any need at all
For my feverish monochrome adolescence
To help animate them

 John Downie: BLACK WHITE COLOUR 1967

John Downie: BLACK WHITE COLOUR 1967

UNIFORM 1943

John Downie: UNIFORM 1943

John Downie: UNIFORM 1943

CHE 1967

John Downie: CHE 1967

John Downie: CHE 1967

BED 1970

John Downie: BED 1970

John Downie: BED 1970

ASYLUM 1989

John Downie: ASYLUM 1989

John Downie: ASYLUM 1989

The accompanying text for these paintings appears in excerpt from The Only Time, which appears in brief issue 56.

Brief issue 55

Brief 55 Cover

brief 55

Edited by Olivia Macassey. 144pp.

Featuring work by: Ivy Alvarez, Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor, Nick Ascroft, Victor Billot, Iain Britton, Isaac Brodie, Brent Cantwell, Stephanie Christie, Mary Cresswell, Brett Cross, Makyla Curtis, William Direen, John Downie, Doc Drumheller, John Geraets, Michael Giacon, Rata Gordon, Dale Johnson, Robert Kempen, Sid Khanzode, Rosalie Liu, Caoimhe McKeogh, joshua morris, Michael Morrisey, Janet Newman, Piet Nieuwland, Andrew Maximillian Niss, Keith Nunes, Vaughan Rapatahana, Sahanika Ratnayake, Jack Ross, Lisa Samuels, Carin Smeaton, Michael Steven, Fiona Stevens, Richard Taylor, Denys Trussell, Richard von Sturmer, E Wen Wong, Mark Young.

Reviews: Jen Crawford reviews Excerpts from a Natural History by Holly Painter and The Burnt Hotel by Olivia Macassey.

“an isle of amusements, mysteries and wonders…”

A supplement to the current issue is located here.
A supplement to issue 55 is located here.

Call for submissions – issue 57

Brief has re-emerged and is seeking all manner of changes, transformations, alterations, mutations, re-orderings, transfigurations, conversions, variations, reorganizations, evolutions, metamorphoses, modifications, and reconstructions.

brief has emerged

Submissions are to be received by September 30, 2018, and can be emailed to brief.the.journal[at]gmail.com. Non-electronic submissions up to A4 in size can be mailed to the editor by prior arrangement.

View our submission guidelines here.

Brief, a biannual print journal (founded in 1995), is a space for new experimental writing, work that does something interesting, adventurous, challenging, or exploratory. Brief publishes poetry, prose, essays & criticism, hybrid forms, and occasionally visual art. Contributors receive an issue of the journal as payment.

Performance – Auckland

Expendable Animals: Songs and Improvisations by Bill Direen and Guests.

Direen’s new show brings together elements of music poetry and theatre in a live evening of texts, songs and improvisation. Direen will perform songs, some known, some new, counterbalanced by creative compositions by a small ensemble of select musicians.

Who:Bill Direen, Steve Cournane, others. Text by Direen and Alan Brunton.
When: Friday 18 & Saturday 19 May, 8pm
Where: Audio Foundation, 4 Poynton Tce, Auckland

It will be the first-ever public performance of a mini song-cycle written by Direen and poet Alan Brunton about Michael Joseph Savage.

Festival poetry reading – Auckland

Speakeasy (Same Same but different)

Who:Bring your original or favourite LGBTQI poetry to present or come to listen and enjoy in a welcoming word nest.”

When: Wednesday 7 February, 5.30pm-7pm
Where:The Leys Institute Library Courtyard, 20 St Mary’s Road, Ponsonby, Auckland.

Launch: Carin Smeaton, Tales of the Waihorotiu

Book launch for Tales of the WaihorotiuTales of the Waihorotiu (Titus Books, 2018)

The Waihorotiu Stream ‘Queen Street River’ used to run down the centre of Auckland’s main road before it was first turned into a canal, and then later diverted into a sewer, where it now flows beneath Queen street.
The Tales of the Waihorotiu tell the story of another Auckland, one that lives beside and underneath capital investment and economic growth. It captures the hardships and humour of people who are forced to navigate WINZ case managers, homelessness, violence and ill-health.

The evening will also celebrate the release of Vaughan Rapatahana’s latest book, ternion.

Who: Carin Smeaton, Vaughan Rapatahana. Murray Edmond, Laurice Gilbert, Rata Gordon, Jiaquio Rosalie Liu, Alexandra Fraser
When: Wednesday 11 October, 6.pm
Where: St Heliers Community Library, 32 St Heliers Bay Rd, Auckland.

 “These poems are full of Ulysses-like cartographic wanderings through the byways of inner-city Auckland, creating purely localised, truly New Zealand fairytales..” — Vivienne Plumb

National Poetry Day Events

Events featuring brief writers on or around National Poetry Day 2017 include:

National Poetry Day 2017The Divine Muses XIV Poetry Reading (Auckland)

The Divine Muses will bring together a mix of emerging and established poets to celebrate National Poetry Day 2017. Free event.

Who: Michael Giacon, C. K. Stead, Simone Kaho, Paula Green, Vana Manasiadis and Siobhan Harvey. Annual Emerging Poets Competition  judged by Maris O’Rourke.
When:
Friday 25 August, 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Where: St Paul Gallery, St Paul Street, Auckland CBD

Waiheke Poetry Love Jam (Auckland)

Waiheke Song and Poetry Thing proudly presents a Love Jam 2017. $20 waged, $10 unwaged.

Who: Rata Gordon, Sophia Johnson, Sue Fitchett, Michelle Chote and others.
When: Saturday 26th August, 6.30-8.30pm
Where: Waiheke Library, 133/131 Oceanview Rd, Oneroa, Waiheke Island

Reservations recommended, contact Kathyvoyles@gmail.com

Kings Theatre Creative Poetry (Northland)

Poets from Fast Fibres Poetry 4 and open mic. Entry $5.

Who: Piet Nieuwland, Olivia Macassey, Aaron Robertson, and many others.
When: Sunday 27 August 1.30pm – 4.00pm
Where: Kings Theatre, 80 Gillies Street, Kawakawa

Where the Wild Words Are (Wellington)

Poets from Mākaro Press. Free entry.

Who: Mary Cresswell, Harvey Molloy, Lindsay Pope, Janis Freegard, Tim Jones, Maggie Rainey-Smith, Keith Westwater, Pete Carter, Peter Stuart, Robyn Cooper, Helen Rickerby, Julie Hanify, Peter Rawnsley, Robin Peace, John Howell
When: Friday 25 August, 1.00pm-3.00pm
Where: Wellington Central Library, Victoria Street, Wellington.

Manifesto Aotearoa Poetry (Wellington)

Poets reading from Manifesto Aotearoa: 101 Political Poems edited by Philip Temple & Emma Neale. Free entry.

Who: Nick Ascroft, Mary Cresswell, Anahera Gildea, Liang Yujing, Keith Westwater.
When: Friday 25th August, 12.00-1.00pm
Where: Unity Books Wellington, 57 Willis Street, Wellington

Best New Zealand Poems (Wellington)

Poets from IIML Best NZ Poems. Free entry.

Who:
Nick Ascroft, James Brown, John Dennison, Adrienne Jansen, Bill Manhire, Bill Nelson, Claire Orchard, Kerrin P Sharpe, Oscar Upperton, Tim Upperton, Airini Beautrais, Marty Smith and Ashleigh Young.
When: Monday 21 August, 12.15-1.15pm
Where: Te Papa Marae, Te Papa, Wellington

The Perfect 10 (Dunedin)

Gala evening hosted by the Otago-Southland NZ Society of Authors. $5, booking essential, contact Kay Mercer library@dcc.govt.nz

Who: Victor Billot, David Howard, Peter Olds, Fiona Farrell, Liz Breslin, Sue Wootton, Jenny Powell, Kay Cooke,  Brian Turner, Jillian Sullivan. Bill Martin on Piano.
When: Friday 25th August, 5.30pm
Where: Dunningham Suite, Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Place, Dunedin

Book launch: Ted Jenner, The Arrow That Missed

Book Launch for The Arrow That Missed (Cold Hub Press, 2017)

The Arrow That MissedWho: Author Ted Jenner. Introduction by Scott Hamilton.
When: Wednesday 16 August, 5.30 pm
Where: Auckland Central Public Library, Whare Whananga (Level 2), Auckland

New collection of poems and prose poems from the author of  The Gold Leaves and Writers in Residence and Other Captive Fauna.

“It is a labyrinthine house of language with many rooms that Jenner inhabits and what he finds there is never less than (ordinarily) surprising and provocative.”  Michael Harlow, Landfall 

Poetry reading, Auckland

Kanohi Ki Te Kanohi – Face to Face

Face to Face Poetry reading
Who: Bob Orr, Iain Britton, Ruby Porter, Makyla Curtis, Vaughan Rapatahana, Olivia Macassey, Selina Tusitala Marsh
When: Friday 11 August, 7-8.30 pm
Where: Time Out Bookstore, 432 Mt Eden Rd, Auckland.

 

 

Unique, original and incredibly gifted!

Book Launch: David Lyndon Brown, White City

Book launch for White City (Titus Books, 2017)

Who: Author David Lyndon Brown. Speakers include Olwyn Stewart, Tony O’Brien, Tim Leath
When: Thursday 27 July, 5.30 pm
Where: Albion Hotel – downstairs function room, 119 Hobson Street, Central Auckland.

White City by David Lyndon BrownWhite City is a collection of short stories set mostly in and around Auckland’s Albert Park.

 ‘No booze, no nothing for a week,’ I told her. ‘Just you and me and the good air and the sun and the sea.’

I can still see her curled up on that bed, the sound of the waves coming in through the window, peacefully sleeping like a little girl. We only lasted four days, but it was the best four days of my life.

Now Melissa’s fucked. We don’t get together so much. She’s too busy working the parlours for white.

“Brown treats his characters with clear-eyed generosity, but never condescension. They are often resourceful though lacking in resources, and tender, if tenuous, connections are made between characters that are not firmly connected to the mainstream grid.”

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