International Institute of Modern Letters
{{Short description|Creative writing programme at Victoria University of Wellington}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = International Institute of Modern Letters
| native_name = Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao
| native_name_lang = mi
| logo =
| logo_size =
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption =
| image = BillManhireHouse 01.jpg
| image_size =
| alt = The entrance of the Bill Manhire House, a seemingly small building, with a yellow wall and tree's around.
| caption = Bill Manhire House
| abbreviation = IIML
| formation = {{Start date and age|2001}}
| founder = Bill Manhire
| founding_location =
| type =
| status =
| location_city = Wellington
| location_country = New Zealand
| key_people = Damien Wilkins (director)
| parent_organisation = Victoria University of Wellington
| website = {{Official website|https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters}}
}}
The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML; {{langx|mi|Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao}}) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (including a PhD in creative writing) and has taught many leading New Zealand writers. It publishes the annual Ōrongohau {{!}} Best New Zealand Poems anthology and an online journal, and offers several writing residencies. Until 2013 the IIML was led by the poet Bill Manhire, who had headed Victoria's creative writing programme since 1975; since his retirement, Damien Wilkins has taken over as the IIML's director.
History
The IIML developed out of creative writing courses run by Bill Manhire at the university since 1975. Initially undergraduate courses were offered, and a master's degree programme (New Zealand's first master's degree in creative writing) was introduced in 1997.{{cite news |last1=Rothwell |first1=Kimberly |title=Creative writing's leading light to retire |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/4787216/Creative-writings-leading-light-to-retire |access-date=21 August 2022 |work=The Dominion Post |date=22 March 2011}}{{cite web |last1=Cook |first1=Megan |last2=Wilton |first2=Caren |title=Page 4. Writers {{!}} Story: Arts education and training |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/arts-education-and-training/page-4 |website=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=22 August 2022 |date=22 October 2014}}{{cite journal |last1=Manhire |first1=Bill |title=From Saga Seminar to Writers' Workshop: Creative Writing at Victoria University of Wellington |journal=TEXT |date=April 2002 |volume=2 |issue=1 |url=http://www.textjournal.com.au/april02/manhire.htm |access-date=22 August 2022}} Manhire's courses involved setting writing exercises to allow students to get to know each other's work and become comfortable giving and receiving feedback, followed by then developing more extensive formal portfolios. The courses were popular and over-subscribed; in 1996, 150 people applied for 12 places. In 1997, an anthology of writing from the course was published, titled Mutes and Earthquakes: Bill Manhire's creative writing course at Victoria,{{cite book |title=Mutes & Earthquakes: Bill Manhire's creative writing course at Victoria |date=1997 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington, New Zealand |isbn=9780864733184}} followed by Spectacular Babies in 2001.{{cite book |editor1-last=Anderson |editor1-first=Karen |editor2-last=Manhire |editor2-first=Bill |title=Spectacular Babies: new writing |date=2001 |publisher=Flamingo |location=Auckland, New Zealand |isbn=9781869503772}} A review of the latter by David Hill commented: "If every other New Zealand writer stopped writing today, Bill Manhire's graduates could probably keep our publishers and readers ticking over".{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=David |title=Edited by Karen Anderson and Bill Manhire: Spectacular Babies |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/iedited-by-karen-anderson-and-bill-manhirei-spectacular-babies/FJHF4N6AKT7CSFILTWSDDKEYKA/ |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=22 February 2001}} Fergus Barrowman, editor of literary magazine Sport, noted that Sport's first issues in the late 1980s "were full of unknown writers who had recently done Bill's undergraduate course ... and a few years later those were our leading writers".{{cite news |last1=Barrowman |first1=Fergus |title=Long live Sport, 1988–2021 |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/18-11-2021/long-live-sport-1988-2021 |access-date=23 August 2022 |work=The Spinoff |date=18 November 2021}}
In 2001 American casino businessman Glenn Schaeffer (himself a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop) approached Manhire and offered to support the creation of an independent creative writing institute within the university. Schaeffer suggested naming it the Institute of Modern Letters initially and Wole Soyinka suggested adding International to the title.{{cite web |title=Our Hats are Off: Eleanor Catton's win |url=https://www.read-nz.org/aotearoa-reads-details/our-hats-are-off-eleanor-cattons-win |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=23 August 2022 |date=17 October 2013}} The university accepted Schaeffer's offer, and the IIML was established, offering master's degrees to 10 fulltime students.{{cite journal |last1=Wheeler |first1=Lesley |title=Interview with Bill Manhire |journal=Shenandoah: The Washington & Lee University Review |date=2012 |volume=2 |issue=61 |url=https://shenandoahliterary.org/612/interview-with-natasha-trethewey/ |access-date=22 August 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Nichol |first1=Ruth |title=Vegas casino magnate backs NZ writers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/314736083 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Evening Post |date=15 March 2001|id={{ProQuest|314736083}} }} The following year, the programme was expanded to 20 students. Schaeffer continued to support the IIML for the next decade, including by establishing a $65,000 Prize in Modern Letters that was awarded every second year from 2002 to 2008,{{cite web |title=Prize in Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/history/prizes |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}}{{cite web |title=Prize in Modern Letters |url=https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Literature/Prizes/ModernLetters/ |website=Christchurch City Libraries |access-date=22 August 2022}} and in 2005 by offering to match the IIML's fundraising by one US dollar for every NZ dollar raised, up to US$1 million.{{cite news |last1=Quirke |first1=Michelle |title=Manhire's race to meet tycoon's $1m challenge |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/338200664 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Dominion Post |date=24 August 2005 |page=A3|id={{ProQuest|338200664}} }}{{cite news |last1=Neville |first1=Sophie |title=Countdown to $1 million |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/338207492 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Dominion Post |date=30 December 2005 |page=A1|id={{ProQuest|338207492}} }} The $1 million figure was met 24 hours before the deadline.{{cite news |last1=Quirke |first1=Michelle |title=Manhire gets his million dollars |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/338212753 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Dominion Post |date=10 February 2006 |page=A3|id={{ProQuest|338212753}} }}
Manhire taught and ran the IIML for over a decade until his retirement. He has said he prefers to call it "Victoria's creative writing programme", noting that the full title "is such a mouthful" that is "almost at odds with the fine use of language". Others who have taught courses at the IIML include Damien Wilkins, Chris Price, Bernadette Hall, Dinah Hawken, Ken Duncum, Emily Perkins,{{cite news |last1=Christian |first1=Dionne |title=House Proud |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1673823944 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=18 April 2015 |page=D8|id={{ProQuest|1673823944}} }} and Fiona Samuel.{{cite news |title=Leading scriptwriter to teach at International Institute of Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2017/10/leading-scriptwriter-to-teach-at-international-institute-of-modern-letters |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Victoria University of Wellington |date=24 October 2017}} The IIML introduced a three-year full-time PhD course in 2008, requiring students to undertake critical as well as creative work.{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Christopher |title=New course |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/314883981 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Press |date=16 August 2008 |page=D10|id={{ProQuest|314883981}} }} Manhire explained at the time that this was in response to "many inquiries over the last few years, from outside New Zealand as well as from our own masters graduates".
After Manhire's retirement as the IIML's director in 2013, Wilkins succeeded him as director,{{cite web |title=Wilkins, Damien |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/wilkins-damien/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=22 August 2022}} and the IIML's building was renamed the Bill Manhire House.{{cite web |title=About our Founding Director |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/history/about-our-founding-director |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Lu |first1=Rose |title=Bill Manhire: 'The kinds of poets I dislike are the superior ones' |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300143117/bill-manhire-the-kinds-of-poets-i-dislike-are-the-superior-ones |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Stuff |date=31 October 2020}} When asked about Manhire's close association with the programme, Wilkins noted: "I think Bill is now a brand. And actually the brand is free of the person. I think he's like Colonel Sanders. People now know there’s not actually a white Southern gentleman cooking the chicken but they still go there."
In 2022, the IIML celebrated 21 years since its foundation, concurrently with Victoria University celebrating 125 years.{{cite web |title=A literary 21st party |url=https://125.wgtn.ac.nz/a-literary-21st-party/ |website=Victoria University of Wellington |date=28 July 2022 |access-date=22 August 2022}}
Activities
The IIML offers undergraduate writing courses, master's degrees in two different streams (writing for the page, covering poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction, and scriptwriting) and a PhD. It is affiliated with the Iowa Writer's Workshop in the United States.{{cite web |title=Our history {{!}} International Institute of Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/history |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}} The IIML hosts a yearly writer's residency (continuing a programme begun by the university in 1979),{{cite web |title=Writer in Residence |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/residence |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}}{{cite news |title=Pip Adam: 'Everything is writing.' |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300137677/pip-adam-everything-is-writing |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Stuff |date=28 October 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Arnold |first1=Naomi |title=Hard times and healing |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/editors-picks/10080478/Hard-times-and-healing |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Nelson Mail |date=24 May 2014}} and since 2019 has also offered an Emerging Pasifika Writer residency and an Emerging Māori Writer residency.{{cite web |title=About us {{!}} International Institute of Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Te |first1=Mandy |title=Simone Kaho announced as emerging Pasifika writer in residence at Victoria University of Wellington |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/125418620/simone-kaho-announced-as-emerging-pasifika-writer-in-residence-at-victoria-university-of-wellington |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Stuff |date=19 June 2021}}{{cite news |last1=O'Dwyer |first1=Ellen |title=J Wiremu Kane announced as Victoria University's emerging Māori writer in residence |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/126809706/j-wiremu-kane-announced-as-victoria-universitys-emerging-mori-writer-in-residence |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Stuff |date=30 October 2021}} Past residents have included Joseph Musaphia (1979), Jack Lasenby (1993), Charlotte Randall (2001), Paula Boock (2009) and Victor Rodger (2017). The IIML offers several other writing awards, including the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing which is awarded each year to the best master's degree portfolio.{{cite web |title=Prize winners {{!}} International Institute of Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/our-students/prize-winners |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}}
The IIML publishes the Ōrongohau {{!}} Best New Zealand Poems anthology annually, which each year includes 25 poems from New Zealand contemporary poets.{{cite news |last1=Wylie |first1=Liz |title=Whanganui poem selected for national anthology |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/whanganui-poem-selected-for-national-anthology/CMNKP6IHRAIFCDKDWLU43V7UWQ/ |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Whanganui Chronicle |date=17 May 2018}} The IIML also publishes an annual online journal Turbine {{!}} Kapohau featuring student contributions and editors.{{cite web |title=Turbine {{!}} Kapohau: A New Zealand journal of new writing |url=http://turbinekapohau.org.nz/ |website=Turbine {{!}} Kapohau |access-date=23 August 2022}}{{cite web |title=Writers bring a breath of fresh air in Turbine {{!}} Kapohau 2021 |url=https://authors.org.nz/writers-bring-a-breath-of-fresh-air-in-turbine-kapohau-2021/ |website=New Zealand Society of Authors |access-date=23 August 2022 |date=13 December 2021}} From 2005 to 2009 the IIML held a National Schools Writing Festival,{{cite web |title=About the National Schools Writing Festival {{!}} International Institute of Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/history/about |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}} and {{As of|2022|lc=yes}} continues to hold a National Schools Poetry Award for high school students.{{cite web |title=About the poetry award {{!}} International Institute of Modern Letters |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/events/schools-poetry/about |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=22 August 2022}}{{cite news |title=Youthful poets, lyric writers encouraged to enter national awards |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/330785903 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Southland Times |date=28 March 2008 |page=13|id={{ProQuest|330785903}} }}
The IIML promotes the publication of its students, with many going on to become award-winning and successful writers. In 2000, Patrick Evans, professor of English at the University of Canterbury, observed that the connections formed between Victoria's creative writing classes, Sport and Te Herenga Waka University Press (then Victoria University Press) were helping "young writers to find publication more easily and quickly than before".{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Patrick |title=Spectacular babies: The Globalisation of New Zealand fiction |journal=World Literature Written in English |date=2000 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=94–109 |doi=10.1080/17449850008589331 |s2cid=161474071 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17449850008589331?journalCode=rjpw19 |access-date=22 August 2022|url-access=subscription }} Barrowman has said that Sport "grew closer to IIML" over the years, with Barrowman as editor reviewing students' folios each year. Evans has criticised, however, the IIML's predominance in New Zealand literature, describing it in 2003 as a "conveyor belt" producing what he considered homogenised writing. Poet David Howard has likewise criticised the IIML for its workshop model and emphasis on peer feedback. Howard regards "the emphasis on peer validation as more dangerous for the poet than the prose writer", and considers that the most successful IIML graduates are novelists as a result.{{cite journal |title=An Interview with the Year's Burns Fellow: David Howard |journal=Deep South |date=2013 |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/2013/DavidHoward.html |access-date=23 August 2022}}
Notable alumni
=IIML alumni=
{{Main category|International Institute of Modern Letters alumni}}
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Pip Adam (MA, 2011)
- Michele Amas (MA in poetry, 2005)
- Michalia Arathimos (PhD, 2013)
- Tusiata Avia (MA in poetry, 2002)
- Hinemoana Baker (MA in poetry, 2002){{cite news |last1=Dekker |first1=Diana |title=Return of the little volumes |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/684471838 |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The Dominion Post |date=24 July 2010|id={{ProQuest|684471838}} }}
- Airini Beautrais (PhD in poetry, 2016)
- Hera Lindsay Bird (MA in poetry, 2011)
- Eleanor Catton (MA, 2008)
- Lynda Chanwai-Earle (MA in scriptwriting, 2005)
- David Coventry (MA, 2010)
- Jackie Davis (MA, 2001)
- Stephanie de Montalk (PhD, 2014)
- Pip Desmond (MA, 2006)
- Sam Duckor-Jones (MA in poetry, 2017)
- Kate Duignan (PhD, 2017)
- Laurence Fearnley (PhD, 2012)
- Gigi Fenster (PhD, 2016)
- Joan Fleming (MA in poetry, 2007)
- Mīria George (MA in scriptwriting, 2008)
- Helen Heath (PhD in poetry, 2017)
- Whiti Hereaka (MA in scriptwriting, 2002)
- Emma Hislop (MA, 2013)
- Lynn Jenner (PhD, 2013)
- Annaleese Jochems (MA, 2016)
- Simone Kaho (MA in poetry, 2011)
- Eli Kent (MA in scriptwriting, 2010)
- Rachael King (MA, 2001)
- Saradha Koirala (MA in poetry, 2007)
- Anthony Lapwood (MA, 2018)
- Louise Wareham Leonard (MA, 2003)
- Christine Leunens (PhD, 2012)
- Rose Lu (MA, 2018)
- Tina Makereti (PhD, 2013)
- Tina Manker (MA, 2020){{Cite Q|Q112952944}}
- Kirsten McDougall (MA, 2004)
- Frankie McMillan (MA, 1999)
- Paula Morris (MA, 2001)
- Mikaela Nyman (PhD, 2020)
- Sue Orr (PhD, 2016)
- Sarah Jane Parton (MA, 2015)
- April Phillips (MA in scriptwriting, 2010)
- Vivienne Plumb (MA, 2001)
- Nina Mingya Powles (MA in poetry, 2015)
- Rebecca Priestley (MA in non-fiction, 2018)
- Maraea Rakuraku (MA in scriptwriting, 2016)
- Rebecca K Reilly (MA, 2019)
- Catherine Robertson (MA, 2015)
- Anna Smaill (MA, 2002){{cite news |title=Brave decision that gave flight to a writer |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/brave-decision-that-gave-flight-to-a-writer/RNOLCPNPPKX6VI3EVHHTDIELKY/ |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Herald on Sunday |date=15 August 2015}}
- Tusi Tamasese (MA in scriptwriting, 2008)
- Anna Taylor (MA, 2006)
- Tayi Tibble (MA in poetry, 2017){{cite news |title='Waiting for life to start': lockdown inspires new poetry collection |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018797498/waiting-for-life-to-start-lockdown-inspires-new-poetry-collection |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=29 May 2021}}
- Ariana Tikao (MA, 2022)
- Chris Tse (MA, 2005)
- Kathryn van Beek (MA in scriptwriting, 2002)
- Louise Wallace (MA, 2008)
- Ashleigh Young (MA, 2009)
{{Div col end}}
=Pre-IIML writing programme alumni=
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Barbara Anderson{{cite web |title=Anderson, Barbara |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/anderson-barbara/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=22 August 2022}}
- Ann Beaglehole
- Helen Beaglehole
- Jenny Bornholdt
- Rachel Bush
- Kate Camp{{cite web |last1=Green |first1=Paula |title=Poetry Shelf interview with Kate Camp |url=https://nzpoetryshelf.com/2020/09/15/poetry-shelf-interview-with-kate-camp/ |website=NZ Poetry Shelf |access-date=23 August 2022 |date=15 September 2020}}
- Catherine Chidgey
- Ken Duncum{{cite web |title=Duncum, Ken |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/duncum-ken/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=23 August 2022}}
- David Geary{{cite web |title=Geary, David |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/geary-david/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=23 August 2022}}
- Kirsty Gunn{{cite web |title=Creative Writing students shortlisted for NZ Post Book Awards |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/news/news-archives/2013-news/iiml-staff-and-students-shortlisted-for-nz-post-book-awards |website=Victoria University of Wellington |access-date=23 August 2022 |date=23 July 2013}}
- Dinah Hawken
- Ingrid Horrocks
- Eirlys Hunter
- Kapka Kassabova
- Elizabeth Knox
- Anthony McCarten
- Emma Neale
- Jenny Pattrick
- Emily Perkins
- Chris Price
- Jo Randerson{{cite web |title=Randerson, Jo |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/randerson-jo/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=23 August 2022}}
- Alison Wong{{cite web |title=Wong, Alison |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/wong-alison/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=23 August 2022}}
{{Div col end}}
Publications
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Manhire |editor1-first=Bill |title=Mutes & Earthquakes: Bill Manhire's creative writing course at Victoria |date=1997 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington, New Zealand |isbn=9780864733184}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Anderson |editor1-first=Karen |editor2-last=Manhire |editor2-first=Bill |title=Spectacular Babies: new writing |date=2001 |publisher=Flamingo |location=Auckland, New Zealand |isbn=9781869503772}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Manhire |editor1-first=Bill |editor2-last=Price |editor2-first=Chris |editor3-last=Wilkins |editor3-first=Damien |editor4-last=Duncum |editor4-first=Ken |title=The Exercise Book: creative writing exercises from Victoria University's Institute of Modern Letters |date=2011 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington |isbn=9780864736857}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Manhire |editor1-first=Bill |editor2-last=Wilkins |editor2-first=Damien |title=The Best of Best New Zealand Poems |date=2011 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington |isbn=9780864737533}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Price |editor1-first=Chris |editor2-last=Perkins |editor2-first=Emily |title=The Fuse Box: essays on writing from Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters |date=2017 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington |isbn=9781776561650}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters}}
- [https://schoolspoetryaward.co.nz/ The National Schools Poetry Award]
- [https://www.bestnewzealandpoems.org.nz/ Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems]
- [http://turbinekapohau.org.nz/ Turbine | Kapohau]
{{Authority control}}
Category:2001 establishments in New Zealand