Flash writers and locals from the Whangārei district, Deb Jowitt and Sue Barker, have put together a showcase of Northland flash fiction writers at Flash Frontier.
The Changing Landscapes: flash and micro fiction from Northland anthology is now available to buy, following a powerful launch in Whangarei in November.
Over 70 people attended the launch party at Dickens Inn.
To score your copy ($15 plus postage) simply email whangareilibrary3.30flash@gmail.com.
Keep in touch with organisers Deb Jowitt and Sue Barker for opportunities to submit your prose to the next collection.
To join the Whangarei Library 3.30 Flash Fiction group, email WhangareiLibrary3.30Flash@gmail.com.
Here are photos of the readers on November 25 2023.
A Northland mum and her three daughters have launched a book reflecting on their three-year journey from botanic novices to setting up a pick-your-own dahlia farm on a converted Girl Guides campground at Awarua south of Kaikohe.
The book, The Dahlia Kids, launches on November 11 2023 at Ngawha Innovation and Enterprise Park, where the kids themselves – Milly 12, Gracie 11 and Lexi, 8 – will give an interactive talk followed by a book signing, homemade nibbles with pink lemonade, dahlia seedling giveaways and prizes.
Printed in October after six months of writing, The Dahlia Kids tells the story of the Ives family starting a flower farm completely from scratch – including the tale of how the family settled on dahlias as their flower of choice and chose homeschooling on a run down, rural bush property ten minutes south of Kaikohe, building the successful flower farm from scratch, and overcoming obstacles including cyclones, droughts and lockdown. The book also covers the struggle of raising three daughters as a solo mum with no connections in the region.
The family flower farm, called The Green Footed Kiwi, was inspired by a single pretty flower mum Jen Ives showed her daughters on social media a few years ago. It wasn’t long before the girls grew their own dahlias, won prizes at a Northland A&P Show and received a pack of seeds in the post.
“The book is about the infectious enthusiasm the Dahlia Kids give off as they let their flower filled photos walk you through their property detailing their journey, their experiments, successes and failures, their perseverance and hard work is heartwarming,” Ives said. “The book represents hard work and a true Kiwi lifestyle in which family and teamwork are central.”
“I wrote it because I wanted to inspire others to think up ideas, however crazy they are, and find a way to go out and just do them. Start an idea and see where it takes you. The benefits of learning and spending time together with your children are boundless.”
“Our lifestyle is a bit unique in that the girls are homeschooled, they do all their learning through the dahlia business they have set up themselves.
“Seven years ago, I came to Northland as a newly divorced single mum with three children under five, not knowing anyone. I made the decision to throw myself and my children into new life experiences. Dahlias were a little unexpected, but I can’t think of any other way of life I would rather be living. Dahlias, homeschooling and this unusual lifestyle have created a community of support around us and have changed us all for the better.”
Second-eldest child Gracie said making the book has been “A once-in-a-lifetime journey for me.”
“I have learnt lots from writing everything we have done over the last three years down on paper, and it has made me realise how unique our lifestyle is and how it has made me the person I am today. I’m pleased Mum found a way to buy our property. I couldn’t think of a better way to grow up.”
“Be careful, an idea can get big very quickly,” daughter Lexi said. “A tiny garden can turn into a huge garden in three years. Make sure you have enough space if you want to start growing dahlias!”
RSVPs are encouraged for the Saturday November 11 book launch in Ngawha.
The brand-new Ngawha Innovation & Enterprise Park has been developed and is managed by Far North Holdings Ltd, working in collaboration with mana whenua Ngāti Rangi, Northland Inc and the local business community.
The shortest day of the year also proved to be the biggest event for fiction writers in Northland so far this year, with a crowd of 40 gathering in central Whangarei on June 22 to celebrate National Flash Fiction Day with a night of short short story readings, coinciding with readings nationwide and the announcement of the supreme national winner.
Flash Fiction is the art of telling an entire story in 300 words. The art form is called Flash Fiction because the story is ‘over in a flash’ or – as lore has it – the story can be read in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette.
Northland has performed highly at National Flash Fiction Day most years since its inception in 2012, with Bay of Islands writer Vera Dong winning first place in 2022 as well as placing fourth equal in 2021 – impressive considering there are many hundreds of entries each year.
Featured readers at the Thursday June 22 Whangarei event included June Pitman-Hayes of Tamaterau, Northland’s highest placed writer for her story ‘The kina girl’ which made the national top 10 shortlist.
Pitman-Hayes received the NZ Society of Authors National Flash Fiction Northland Regional Prize – which she says is her first ever literary award. Pitman-Hayes also got her 100-word micro-story ‘Paper Doll’ in the shortlist for the Micro Madness international competition, winners of which were announced during the same evening.
Three other Tai Tokerau entries cracked the top 25 longlist – Sue Barker of Waipū for her stories ‘Rural bliss’ and ‘Gymkhana meets Madonna.’ The other was ‘All hung out: Washing Lines of my Life’ by Whangarei Heads writerDeb Jowitt.
Other readers were award-winning poet Piet Nieuwland who read from ‘A Cluster of Lights,’ a new flash collection organised by former Northlander Michelle Elvy, Eddie Williams, and Emma Philips, head girl of Ruawai College, who was presented with the inaugural NZSA Northland youth award. Emma won the Whangarei Libraries flash fiction contest in 2022 and has ranked highly in National Flash Fiction Day in both 2022 and 2023.
National Flash Fiction Day 2023 winners will be published online over the coming week.
If you’re interested in oral history training and can attend both workshops (to be held a month apart later in the year), contact Deb Jowitt debjowitt@gmail.com
Attendance on both days is required and places will be limited.
Day 1:
The essentials of oral history research: An introduction to oral history methodology
Day 2:
The essentials of oral history research: Recording seriously
The workshops are a practical introduction to oral history and include:
How to plan an oral history project
Choose the best equipment
Achieve clear audio recordings
Select informants
Ways to follow ethical procedures
How to develop questioning techniques
Process oral history, and
How to make the material available for use.
Contact Deb Jowitt to organise dates and places. Ph: 0210360027 or email debjowitt@gmail.com
‘Flying Solo,’ an anthology of creative writing about solo parenting, has a few spaces left for contributors, especially more males sought.
Please keep an eye on the Facebook page because Flying Solo is about to launch a Boosted crowdfunding campaign to raise the money needed to launch the book.
3. The Te Kohu poetry anthology has launched. This is poetry from the Hokianga area. Copies available -all information on their Facebook page. Please support. Click through.
4. The Auckland Writers Festival kicked off today. Please talk to the group to share rides down and attend. https://www.writersfestival.co.nz/
Creative Writing Northland has launched in Whangārei, Dargaville and the Bay of Islands. A collective of volunteer mentors, Creative Writing Northland assists aspiring writers of all ages to complete goals which they set themselves. Mentees will be matched with published writers, and each mentee will be assisted to set their own goals then work towards completing the goals.
Examples of goals aspiring writers will be helped to achieve include:
Getting a novel completed and past its first 1-2 drafts
Polishing short stories to enter into competitions
Mastering flash fiction and entering National Flash Fiction Day
Getting journalism published in a newspaper or website
Setting up a creative writing blog
Writing a script for a play or film
Founder Michael Botur says the broader goal for all Creative Writing Northland mentees is to become a good enough writer to get some writing published or sold, and also to create a portfolio of work so aspiring writers can join a tertiary creative writing course at NorthTec or any university.
Creative Writing Northland is open to all ages and is non-profit, though mentees must pay a modest koha/donation to the mentor and must attend regular meetings, completing homework assignments in-between each meeting.
The first six mentors are all published authors and have won numerous awards between them. Jody Reynolds, Catherine Lea, Jenny Purchase, Janine Williams, Renee Liang and Michael Botur are ready and waiting to receive applications from those wanting a mentor.
Write Up North 