As an Urban Villager dwelling on the cusp of Kingsland/Morningside, I’m grateful that the spectacles of RWC are well and truly over. Now that calm has been restored, I can happily re-inhabit my territory and in this column, I’m presenting apictorial essay on the hidden gem that is Morningside/Mt Albert industrial estate - a few winding streets with iconic industrial architecture, that I regularly cycle through  [ ... ]

A Sense of Itself by Derek Jones (Highly Commended:  2011 Cultural Icons & The Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition, ‘Encounters of a Vernacular Kind’)

The Depot is pleased to announce the winner, runner up and highly commended writer of the 2011 Cultural Icons & The Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition, ‘Encounters of a Vernacular Kind’, a narrative competition on the topic o [ ... ]

A Mall to Remember by Anna Harding (1st Prize Winner 2011: Cultural Icons & The Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition, ‘Encounters of a Vernacular Kind’)

The Depot is pleased to announce the winner, runner up and highly commended writer of the 2011 Cultural Icons & The Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition, ‘Encounters of a Vernacular Kind’, a narrative competition on the topic of  [ ... ]

Anyone Can Play by Philippa Werry (2nd Prize Winner 2011: Cultural Icons & The Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition, ‘Encounters of a Vernacular Kind’)

The Depot is pleased to announce the winner, runner up and highly commended writer of the 2011 Cultural Icons & The Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition, ‘Encounters of a Vernacular Kind’, a narrative competition on the topic of Ne [ ... ]

Oh shit!  As a 75th birthday present, I’ve just been told that I have a right or perhaps a requirement to offer birthday presents in the opposite direction.  I believe that once beyond the age of immaturity, which in my case was last year, the whole business of birthday gifting, an absurd convention, should be reversed.*

So, here are my precious, pious offerings:

1.  Writing is only about words.  How to use the [ ... ]

The 2011 Cultural Icons & Vernacular Lounge Non-fiction Writing Competition is now open for entries.
Iconic Encounters of a Vernacular Kind
Judged by: Graham Beattie, Federico Monsalve, Linda Blincko

Prizes include:  Creative Hub Writing Course, Random House book package, publication in MORPH magazine, recorded on Jam Radio. Deadline: 4pm 1st of September 2011 “Vernacular:  Belonging in place, kno [ ... ]

Yesterday I was down in London’s Denmark Street, a narrow road lined with specialist music shops once frequented by the Beatles and the Sex Pistols and now by myself, an opera singer on a mission to purchase a Drum Practice Pad (and that’s a whole other column).

Contrary to a recent review which mentioned the rudeness of the retail staff on Denmark Street, I was having a good old yarn, including obligatory cult [ ... ]

I am occasionally beset in the small hours of the morning with the sensation that I’m in real trouble. I moved to the other side of the planet to be a singer. The commercially viable kind, you ask? Good heavens no, I mean classical. Luckily, that feeling is generally fleeting and as I look out at the nearly constructed Olympic Stadium I can see from my living room I think I might be exactly where I should be and  [ ... ]

As a scholar, enthusiast and society member I was recently fortunate enough to attend Katherine Mansfield, the ‘Underworld’ and the ‘Blooms Berries’ Symposium held in the UNESCO city of literature, Melbourne.  I was there to present a paper and to soak up all things Mansfield.  Having spent the last five years immersed in Mansfield studies I was in my element. The two day celebration of Mansfield’s  [ ... ]

For many artists, finding your own studio space to create in can be a hard task.  Artist Erin Forsyth and her sister, Leah, decided to take matters into their own hands.   This year they set up a new creative space in Auckland under the banner of their non-profit company, ‘Method and Manners’.

Graphic designers, oil painters, illustrators, fashion designers and even sculptors now inhabit their own studio space [ ... ]