Kevin Ireland (3)

Shape of the Heart

ISBN: 9780995132962

Author: Kevin Ireland    Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

One of New Zealand’s most prominent, well-loved and accessible poets Kevin Ireland’s words pop like seaweed pods, whether he is: honouring friendships — m...


One of New Zealand’s most prominent, well-loved and accessible poets Kevin Ireland’s words pop like seaweed pods, whether he is: honouring friendships — making sourdough bread — grinning at the weather gods — wondering why he slept in — marvelling at the miracle of a shower — giving advice to writers — analysing chance remarks and philosophical paradoxes — celebrating the benefits of a failing memory — circumnavigating childhood, ageing and death … or just having fun, which he does refreshingly often. Shape of the Heart sparkles with poems that take us from brain to heart, sometimes detouring to unexpected places (such as the belly button), but most often in a direct and delightful line.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 64


Dimensions: 140 x 210 mm


Publication Date: 12-05-2020


Tag: Poetry
$24.99
Just Like That

ISBN: 9780995143739

Author: Kevin Ireland    Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

Poems greet Kevin Ireland in the morning with a crafty smile, or fly into his kitchen out of nowhere. Some dream themselves into his mind, or twist a bottle-cap...


Poems greet Kevin Ireland in the morning with a crafty smile, or fly into his kitchen out of nowhere. Some dream themselves into his mind, or twist a bottle-cap and offer to share a cup of friendship. Lively words vie for places in his poems, or catch alight from cheerful thoughts. They are never predictable, because... Incongruity lies at the heart of poetry. Words in verse so often can suggest a kind of double-take on what we think we’ve seen – and aim to open up our minds to the uncustomary. Kevin Ireland’s 27th collection is brimful of poems that do all this and more. Whether he is writing about writing, ruminating on the mixed blessings of ageing, or reflecting on love and other viruses, Kevin’s poems are peppered with wry humour and celebrate a sparkling pleasure in life, with all its contradictions, balls-ups, mysteries, happiness and richness.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 80


Dimensions: 160 x 235 mm


Publication Date: 04-11-2021


$25.00
A Month At The Back Of My Brain : A Third Memoir

ISBN: 9781991103062

Author: Kevin Ireland    Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

As he enters his 90th year on the planet, Kevin Ireland describes his third memoir as a process of ‘sweeping up all the reflective wrappers and the tinsel, an...


As he enters his 90th year on the planet, Kevin Ireland describes his third memoir as a process of ‘sweeping up all the reflective wrappers and the tinsel, and describing how, in the setting sun, they glitter with the brilliant romance of nostalgia…’. Unlike his earlier two memoirs, one of which won a National Book Award, this is not a systematic chronicle of lasting interests and colourful occurrences, but a reflective, almost absent-minded, rummaging through 30 episodes – representing a month – at the back of his brain. The method is open and experimental, and it allows the ordinary and everyday to take a rightful place among the souvenirs of his ‘life’. Matters that once seemed significant are relegated to obscurity and events and intersections that were once thought to be minor are now allowed space to reveal how they stealthily altered viewpoints and added to a store of vital experiences. In his 90th year Ireland no longer believes that the highpoints of an existence are always decided by important events. Some of them do have lasting results, but this memoir deliberately sets out to uncover the enduring worth and power of happenings that may have seemed simple at the time but were complex and entirely out of the ordinary in their effects. Overlooked memories return to us in our old age with a new and astonishing energy and with all the buzz of their magic reborn. About the Author Kevin Ireland OBE has published novels, short stories, memoirs, a book on fishing and another on growing old. Awards include an honorary doctorate, the 2004 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement and the 2006 A.W. Reed Award for his contribution to New Zealand writing.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 174


Dimensions: 152 x 229 mm


Publication Date: 09-11-2022


$39.99
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