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.
“Emotional notation” is a workshop term for one of the central ambitions of art: to get onto the page experiences that escape language.” @garthgreenwell.bsky.social on @alexanderchee.bsky.social ‘s “Edinburgh”: www.newyorker.com/books/second...
How “Edinburgh” Reimagines Time to Tell a Story of Trauma
Alexander Chee’s début novel, “Edinburgh,” published twenty-five years ago, collapses past and present in a brilliant account of abuse and its aftermath.
newyorker.com
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink A female wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse. Its body can grow up to 10cm long (nearly 4in) and its leg span can be as wide as 20cm | New Zealand | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
theguardian.com
Nomination days are some of our favorite days! These writers and artists are takahē's nominees for the Best of the Net, an annual anthology celebrating digital publishing and a wide array of creative voices. Big mihi to everyone for sharing their beautiful work with our readers 🩷
A bit of magic at the HB Readers & Writers Festival 😍 #WitiIhimaera
Kia ora Scorpio Books and WE Are Books & the Bookshop Day team, had a fabulous Aotearoa NZ Bookshop Day. We wore booky clothes & got a prize each from Scorp - coffee and a Penguin tshirt. Loved checking out the Scorp Expansion full of cooking and gardening books. #BookshopDayNZ #NZBookshopDay
'We're probably going to see a bigger shift between corporate publishers looking for efficiencies and smaller publishers insisting that the humans involved are the whole point.' www.wired.com/story/book-p...
Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are Revolting
Workers at three major publishing houses tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech.
wired.com
Whānau, yesterday I wrote letting you know that we sent our campaign asks to the political parties and news media. As promised, today we are publicly launching the campaign: Research Is Work! Please help spread the word by hitting the share button and sending it to your socials. #NZPOL 🇳🇿
Research Is Work Campaign Launch
Research Is WorkThe world is a complex place with far too many problems and questions for any individual. That is why universities and research institutions exist, to employ specialists to contribute ...
te-ara-paerangi.community
Beautiful ancient glass #Fish! Of course, makes me think of this Marianne Moore poem: www.poetrynook.com/poem/egyptia...
An Egyptian Pulled Glass Bottle in the Shape of a Fish by Marianne Moore | PoetryNook
Here we have thirstand patience, from the first, and art, as in a wave held up for us to see in its essential perpendicularity;not brittle butintense—the spectrum, that spectacular and nimble animal t...
poetrynook.com
Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 2d agoFascinating world of ancient #glass: a stunning Egyptian glass vessel in the shape of a #fish, it was probably used to hold ointments. Found in El-Amarna, #Egypt, 14th century BC. 📷 British Museum
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854
Wellington writer Mikee Donato has won the $15,000 Sargeson Prize for her short story about two soul mates
Winning story of the 2026 Sargeson Prize
newsroom.co.nz
The University is running a story about my efforts to get The Comics CoLab off the ground. www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2026...
Comic twist: new collab calling for artists and ideas – University of Auckland
Comics CoLab, a new project aimed at turning important public information in areas like health and science into comics, is calling for artists and funded ideas.
auckland.ac.nz
Whoa, I was unaware the latest Nobel laureate for literature has been reviewing pop concerts for the LRB www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anne Carson · On Rosalía
We require heroism of our entertainers. We want them sacrificing themselves to a certain ultimate degree of input. No...
lrb.co.uk
‘I knew I should be writing a straightforward story, or even a poem, but I didn’t. I should get back to words, I thought, plain words….’
Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · 2d agoExtraordinary, really. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
On a personal level, I feel honored that I've met Carson. On a different personal level, I'm glad that the Nobel is celebrating someone shy, peculiar, intense. May all the weird/funny/creative/dark/introverted people of the world live long and prosper.
Tldr: @nzgreensglobal.bsky.social are the only party with a fully ratified arts policy. Here, I looked it up for you: www.greens.org.nz/arts_culture...
Arts, Culture and Heritage Policy
We are building a future where we do more, faster, to protect our planet and make sure everyone is treated equally.
greens.org.nz
IIML@modernletters.bsky.social · 3d agoOnly one party has a comprehensive arts policy, in case you’re wondering
FYI full debate on youtube (unlisted): www.youtube.com/watch?v=HniU...
Art Across Party Lines
YouTube video by Boosted Crowdfunding
youtube.com
Review: Big Girls Don’t Cry captures the endless ache of adolescence
Review: Big Girls Don’t Cry captures the endless ache of adolescence
Paloma Schneideman’s debut feature cuts to the core of the crappy New Zealand coming-of-age summer.
thespinoff.co.nz
Three cheers for Anne Carson, Nobel Prize winner! From The Glass Essay to Autobiography of Red and so much else, she has been a touchstone for many poets, yet remains inimitable. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/o...
Anne Carson wins Nobel prize in literature 2026
Most prestigious literature prize goes to Canadian known for genre-crossing works such as Autobiography of Red
theguardian.com
Only one party has a comprehensive arts policy, in case you’re wondering
The election is looming, so where are the arts?
thebigidea.co.nz
David Naimon on his book of interviews with Ursula K LeGuin
Nothing is Too Small to Contain the World: A Conversation with David Naimon - The Rumpus
Conversations on Writing does touch on how these big impossible questions can be found within the smallest choices we make as writers, within syntax, voice, point of view, and narrative. And the gestu...
therumpus.net
She's done it again! Huge congratulations to Catherine Chidgey on the NZ publication today of her already-acclaimed new novel, The Starving Bride. Flick through for some thoughts from early readers.
Visited Scorpio Books for the first time earlier this week - what an awesome bookshop!
Aunty Donna@kebabette.bsky.social · 3d agoScorpio Books expansion opening this Saturday 10 October - NZ Bookshop Day! #NZBookshopDay
If you're in Wellington, you're invited to the launch of my latest book 'Lifted' at 6pm, Unity Books, Wednesday 28th October. Wine and nibbles and, of course, lovely people! #nzpol #pukapuka #aonzbooks #aotearoabooks #nzbooks #booksnz
Le Guin on the idea that there is a secret to getting good at writing.
In 'Land, Race and the Settler Imagination', Liana MacDonald examines how settler colonialism is sustained in Aotearoa, by the spaces we move through, the institutions we work in and the stories we tell. Recognising our part in this story is where change begins. An incisive new BWB Text. Out now!
Every book has a whakapapa and I wanted to shout out a few influences for my forthcoming novel Mincemeat 📚💚 #MincemeatNovel #pukapuka
