Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the Escape! festival 2020 had to be cancelled, however, the TAF Team are still busy bringing arts into everyone’s homes. Their new project ‘Home-made Poetry’ features locals and past guests of the festival reading works by New Zealand poets on camera.
Former Poet Laureates Brian Turner and Elizabeth Smither both had their poems featured and Brian even commented: “you deserve a round of applause for doing this”. Other Kiwi poets involved in the project are Glenn Colquhoun, Alison Wong (based in Australia), Tauranga-raised Leonard Lambert and Bob Orr.
“With the Escape! festival being cancelled this year and the country facing tough times we wanted to add some enjoyment to these days of solitude and uncertainty,” festival director Ria Hall says. “We hope people will enjoy the poems and performances for what they are.”
Read more about Ria Hall and her new role as the festival director in our April/May edition.
Dr Siouxsie Wiles. Image: Photographers Inc portrat 
Poet and GP Glenn Colquhoun. Image: Brydie Photography
Each Monday during the lockdown, two new Home-made Poetry videos are posted online. The first episode, published on April 13, features an award-winning scientist Dr Siouxsie Wiles (an Escape! festival speaker in 2016) and Mt Maunganui chess player Bob Smith. They have been followed by Tauranga garage owner Sandra Phillips and Waikato University chaplain Andrew McKean this week. Next Monday, on April 27, you’ll see Arts Festival patron-supporters Debby Meldrum and Doug Hendry.
Two other locals have chosen to share poetry via written posts. April 13 saw a feature by Tauranga poet Harold Jones about one of his favourite pieces – ‘The Shield of Achilles’ from Homer’s ‘Iliad’, while on April 20 Tauranga photographer Kim Westerskov revisited some of his Antarctica experiences in response to a passage from the Bill Manhire poem ‘Hoosh’.
It’s impressive, how the team and all the participants are keeping up with the lockdown rules while making these recordings – some have been DIY, while others were filmed by people isolating in the same bubble. of course, each of the episodes was made on the reader’s property.
To see Home-made Poetry go to taurangafestival.co.nz. Links are also available on the festival’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
And don’t forget that every Wednesday and Friday you can also listen to the new audio recordings from the Escape! 2018 speaker sessions!
