Poet Hawken has a way with words

SPEAKER: Poet Dinah Hawken of Wellington is next month's guest author for Wairarapa Word.

Noted Wellington poet Dinah Hawken is the featured writer at Wairarapa Word's monthly writers and readers event at the Carterton Events Centre on October 4.

Hawken was among several women poets who emerged in the 1980s and has six previously published books of poetry.

Her first was awarded the Best First Time Published Poet section of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for 1987.

A finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards, Hawken in 2007 was awarded the Lauris Edmond Award for distinguished contribution to poetry.

She will include readings from her newly released poetry book Ocean and Stone and talk about her writing.

At the launch of Ocean and Stone, Greg O'Brien said: "Dinah Hawken's manner of writing and thinking has become an essential and influential ingredient in recent New Zealand poetry.

"Her book asks that we consider our actions, and the direction in which we are heading, collectively and as individuals."

Convener for the event Jan Gerritsen says: "The more I delve into Dinah Hawken's poems, the more impressed I become with the way she uses such simple language to consider big ideas.

"I think we're in for a real treat hearing Dinah read from her poems that include issues of social justice, environment and nature, often with the use of humour."

Hawken's topics include nature, women's experience and spirituality.

Her status as a writer means her poems are included in many collections of poetry, such as two selections of Essential New Zealand Poems, 99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry (where she is cited more than 20 times), Griffiths Review 43, Yellow Pencils, while her poem on Wellington opens the collection Big Weather.