Winner of the 2023 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award

Posted: Tuesday Nov 28, 2023

Congratulations to Jo McNeice, for her manuscript, Blue Hour

Darkness and light run through this intimate collection, drawing on themes of love and madness, betrayal, desire and recovery. McNeice says her poems are inspired by her life experiences and her responses to other art forms.

‘I often get inspired by looking at art, especially photography books. It’s a good way to turn my attention outward. It’s the same with watching film, images or snatches of story or character might slip into a poem.’

‘I find a lot of inspiration walking in green spaces. Especially through Karori cemetery. It’s sprawling and peaceful, it feels like nature is reclaiming itself. Looking at the plants, insects, graves, statues, birds, there’s an amazing amount of material.’

2023 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award Judge Anne Kennedy says that Blue Hour unfolds as a moving story, a ‘Gothic/fairytale’ set in a contemporary world. It tells the journey of a woman ‘searching among the images and events of her life for answers – sometimes finding them, sometimes not.’

‘The voice is beautiful yet unsettling, aching yet funny, lyric yet gritty ... Each time I read Blue Hour, I discovered more, was surprised more, yet kept coming home to the rich and challenging centre of this work.’

Blue Hour will be published in 2024 by Otago University Press 

Find out more about Jo’s winning collection at oup.nz/2023-kathleen-grattan-poetry-winner

Read Anne Kennedy’s full judges report in Landfall 246: Spring 2023 edited Lynley Edmeades: oup.nz/landfall246