Tim Upperton

Tim Upperton’s poetry and fiction have appeared in Agni (US), Bravado, Dreamcatcher (UK), Landfall, the New Zealand Listener, North & South, Sport, Takahe and Turbine. He is a former poetry editor for Bravado, and judged its International Poetry Competition in 2008. He has won first prizes in the Listener’s National Poetry Day competition, Takahe magazine’s poetry competition, and the Northland and Manawatu Short Story competitions. His first poetry collection, A House on Fire, will be published by Steele Roberts in July 2009.

Tim Upperton comments: ‘In 2004, I more or less left public life. After completing an M.A. in English in the ’80s, I trained as a librarian, and for some years I was Libraries Manager and then Customer Services Manager for Whangarei District Council. When my wife was offered a paid position to do a Ph.D. at Massey University, we switched roles: I looked after our four kids and cobbled together a part-time job teaching creative writing, while she worked fulltime. I found and continue to find my role rewarding but difficult—I don’t think I do it particularly well. Mornings in our household are mayhem and murder, yet I regard the world outside our front door with increasing anxiety. Love, self-doubt and anxiety—these are the emotions that underlie “Four bananas”.’

Poem: Four bananas

Links

Turbine 08

Agni: online work

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