<p> 1</p><p>NZSA TOP OF THE SOUTH NEWS 24 July 2015</p><p>Send Top of the South news to Chrissie Ward at [email protected] or phone 03-546-9818. Let me know about meetings, coming events, book launches, new publications, literary successes, etc. Don’t forget to tell me if you change your email address. Past newsletters are archived for a month on our website www.topwriters.co.nz</p><p>AUTHORS’ TALK IN RICHMOND LIBRARY</p><p>Local authors Karen Stade and Karen Price will be talking about their recent book Pasta, Prayer and Promise: the story of Nelson’s Italian Community 1860 – 2014 in Richmond Library on Thursday 30 July at 2 pm.</p><p>What started as a project to document the history of Italians growing tomatoes in Nelson turned into a rich tapestry of stories about the lives of Italian families from around the region. </p><p>This talk is a free event and has been organised by the Waimea South Historical Society.</p><p>WRITERS AT LUNCHTIME</p><p>The next Writers at Lunchtime meeting on Wednesday 5 August features ‘Grey Urbanist’ Ro Cambridge. </p><p>A freelance writer, radio show host, arts worker and columnist, Ro Cambridge roams Nelson city accompanied by her small dog, reporting on the oddities and serendipities of urban life. The topic of her lunchtime talk will be ‘On Being a Columnist: the strangeness of cannibalising your own life for public consumption, and the things you learn – about writing, your audience and yourself – in the process.’</p><p>The venue for Writers at Lunchtime is The Prince Albert, 113 Nile Street, Nelson. Everyone is welcome and there is no need to book. Come any time from 11.30 am, but make sure to be there to hear Ro at 12.30 pm. Check out her websites www.greyurbanist.com and www.couchstories.co.nz</p><p>WHAT’S NEW ON THE BRANCH WEBSITE 2</p><p>The Local Services for Writers list is growing, but we would love to see more advertisements there. The idea is for this page to be a useful reference for those who are seeking a particular service and prefer to use another NZSA member, or someone local, AND a place to advertise for those who can offer a service. Advertisements are free for NZSA members, and only cost $20 per calendar year for others. Listed recently in the Accommodation section are two wonderful places to stay in the Tasman District – check them out here http://www.topwriters.co.nz/accommodation.html</p><p>Over half of our members now have their profile on the Member Profiles page at http://www.topwriters.co.nz/member-profiles.html.If yours isn’t there yet, send a short biography (max 300 words), a head shoulders photo (jpg) and any links to websites, blogs, e-publications etc, to [email protected]. Profiles are a great way to promote your work, and also allow us to get to know our fellow branch members. </p><p>Want to refer to something you read about in the branch newsletter a couple of weeks ago, but find you’ve deleted it? These newsletters are uploaded to the website a week after they are first sent out, and stay there for another month at http://www.topwriters.co.nz/newsletters.html.</p><p>TUESDAY TOPICS AT PAGE & BLACKMORE</p><p>Page & Blackmore Booksellers welcome everyone to their winter series of interesting talks about life in different places. The talks take place in the bookshop at 254 Trafalgar Street, Nelson, starting at 5 pm. </p><p>Tuesday 28 July: North Korea. In 1984 Robin Robiliard was the second western journalist to get into North Korea since the Korean Peninsula was divided in 1953. Her aim was to study ‘ordinary people’ in diverse countries, to learn how politics, religion, culture and economy affected their lives. Robin is now a best-selling author with her memoir, Hard Country: A Golden Bay Life.</p><p>LAUNCH OF HORIZONS 2 ANTHOLOGY</p><p>We are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of Horizons 2 – winning stories from Page & Blackmore national short story competitions & poems selected for The Nelson Provincial Museum window. </p><p>The anthology will be launched on Thursday 20 August at The Nelson Provincial Museum, 6 – 7.30 pm. Seifrieds are generously donating wine, and the catering will be by Annika Ohlson-Smith. We would love to see you at this event; please RSVP so we know how many to cater for. </p><p>AND you can buy the anthology at the discounted price of $15 up to the date of the launch, after which it will sell for $20. You should all have 3 received the invitation to the launch and order form; if not contact Chrissie on [email protected]</p><p>Published by NZSA Top of the South branch, Horizons 2 features the winning and short-listed stories from the 2014 and 2015 Page & Blackmore Short Story Competitions, as well as the poems that have appeared in the window of The Nelson Provincial Museum in 2013 and 2014.</p><p>Maurice Gee, the branch’s most illustrious member, says of the anthology:</p><p>This is a wide-ranging collection of stories and poems. Some vividly evoke the local scene and the people who live here. Others go out into the world, sometimes into strange places, or dark places in the mind. There’s even one highly entertaining historical spoof.</p><p>Big subjects are tackled. We have politics and, here and there, philosophical musings, but sad or happy domestic tales and quiet landscape poems also have a place. It’s an enjoyable collection by writers who know what they want to say and how to say it.</p><p>WRITERS’ AND PUBLISHERS’ FORUM IN PICTON</p><p>The second Writers’ and Publishers’ Forum will be held at Picton Little Theatre, Dublin Street, from 14 – 16 August. </p><p>The object of the forum is to enable writers to share their work with other writers and the public while expanding their skills by learning from each other and discovering what specialist publishing services are available. Briefly, the programme is: Friday 14 August, 7 – 9 pm: Registration and a chance for writers to display their books on the sales table and meet other writers. Saturday 15 August, 9 am – 5 pm: Writers will be allocated a time to present their work to the audience, and will have the opportunity to sell and sign copies of their work and talk to publishers.</p><p>Sunday 16 August, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm: Guest speakers will provide a panel discussion on the production of books and the changes that are taking place in the industry.</p><p>A $10 registration fee is required from participants. Numbers are limited to the first twenty, and registrations close on Friday 24 July. Entry is free for the general public and partners of participants. For full programme and registration form, contact Peter or Irene Thomas, 027 249 3146 or 03-972 0638, [email protected] or download it from the branch website at http://www.topwriters.co.nz/coming-events.html POETRY IN THE NELSON MUSEUM WINDOW 4</p><p>Each month a poem is displayed in the Trafalgar Street window of Nelson Provincial Museum. The poem for July is Simple Pleasures by Jan Trafford, and the war poem being displayed upstairs is Marching Home by Roger Lusby.</p><p>Carol Ercolano is always looking for poems suitable for the window. Theme: preferably reflecting the Top of the South, although it is more important to display poems that people passing by and stopping to read can readily identify with. The museum is also involved in the selection process.</p><p>Length: preferably not more than 30 lines, as the lettering can become too small to be read comfortably from the footpath. However, an extract from a longer poem could be displayed as lines from .... If you would like a poem of yours considered for the window, send a selection of up to three as attachments to Carol Ercolano at [email protected] </p>