Poet, critic, dramatist and soon-to-be fiction writer, Murray Edmond, will take his audience on a memoir-based journey through key literary encounters in the 13th annual free Frank Sargeson Memorial Lecture this month.
Like Sargeson, Edmond grew up in Hamilton and his formative literary experiences come from their shared roots.
"Writers simply invent themselves. No one gives them a certificate that says – 'now you can go out into the world and write'. Writers make themselves up with their own imaginations and their own fancies, to borrow (Samuel) Coleridge's terms," says Edmond.
"Another helpful contributor to self-invention can be the encounters a writer has with other, older writers, who can provide both blueprints and inspiration," he says.
In his lecture on October 14, Edmond will evoke his meetings with well-known New Zealand literary figures including, Sargeson, Kendrick Smithyman, Mary Stanley, James K. Baxter, Hone Tuwhare, R.A.K.Mason, Denis Glover and Charles Brasch, as well as the not-so-well-known Hamilton novelist Francis Blackburn (James Garford). He will also mention of his own contemporaries, such as Hirini Melbourne and Russell Haley.
Edmond has published thirteen books of poems. Letters and Paragraphs (1987) and Fool Moon (2005) were New Zealand Book Awards finalists. His latest volume of poems is Shaggy Magpie Songs (2015).
Since the 1970s, Edmond has been active in experimental and innovative theatre companies such as the Living Theatre Troupe, Half Moon Theatre in London, Theatre Action, Town and Country Players and Indian Ink Theatre Company, and for more than 25 years he taught theatre and drama at the University of Auckland. He works as the dramaturge for Indian Ink Theatre Company, whose latest play, Kiss the Fish, was awarded Best New Play of 2014 in the Chapman Tripp Awards.
Elizabeth Aitken Rose, Chairperson of the Sargeson Trust, is looking forward to Edmond delivering this year's talk.
"Frank Sargeson's legacy persists in Murray Edmond and the university's 13th Frank Sargeson Memorial Lecture. Although generations apart, Sargeson and Edmond resonate in their beginnings in Hamilton and contribution to New Zealand letters, as well as their delight in the theatre. The lecture commemorates the enduring strength of Sargeson as a writer; a Hamilton scion and champion of contemporary literature," she says.
The 13th annual Frank Sargeson Memorial Lecture 'Who Would a Would-Be Be: Literary Encounters' by Murray Edmond takes place on Wednesday, October 14 at 5.30pm in S.1.02 (S Block, University of Waikato). There will be light refreshments after the lecture from 6.30pm.
The lecture is co-hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Friends of Hamilton Public Library Association. The lecture is free and open to the public.