These Rough Notes

by Manhire, Bill; Noble, Anne; Meehan, Norman; Griffin, Hannah

• ISBN13: 9780864738318
• ISBN10: 0864738315
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-06-01
• Publisher: Victoria University Press

Summary

A century after the ill-fated polar expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, These Rough Notes evokes the dangerous fascination Antarctica elicits in a cross-media collaboration between writer Bill Manhire, photographer Anne Noble, composer Norman Meehan, and singer Hannah Griffin. Drawing its title from one of the last pages of Scott’s journal, the book captures the harsh reality of an unforgiving environment as experienced firsthand by Manhire and Noble and dwells on the human spirit and its will to explore, to endure, and ultimately to accept. The poems and photographs that the pair presents are complemented by the music and vocals of Meehan and Griffin on the accompanying audio CD.

Author Biography

Bill Manhire is an award-winning poet, an author, and the editor of several bestselling anthologies. He is a professor at Victoria University of Wellington and is the founding director of Victoria’s Institute of Modern Letters. He is the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry and was named New Zealand’s inaugural Poet Laureate. Anne Noble is a renowned photographer who has been represented in exhibitions worldwide. She was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, has been named a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate, and was granted the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artist & Writers Award. She is the research director for the College of Creative Arts and a professor of photography at Massey University–Wellington. Norman Meehan is a pianist, a composer, and an associate professor at the New Zealand School of Music and Massey University. He is the author of Serious Fun: The Life and Music of Mike Nock and Time Will Tell: Conversations with Paul Bley and a regular contributor to Down Beat. Hannah Griffin is a jazz vocalist who has collaborated with Meehan on the album Sun Moon Stars Rain, and with both Manhire and Meehan on Buddhist Rain and Making Baby Float—all of which are adapted from poetry.