Congratulations to Randell Cottage Trustee and past writer in residence, James Norcliffe, on the launch of his latest poetry collection. A Day Like No Other (Otago University Press) is now available at all good bookshops. A handsome volume of poems spanning his career, it includes eleven collections from across nearly four decades.
James Norcliffe was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry in 2022 and is considered one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most distinguished and beloved contemporary poets. The poems are described as:
“Often conversational in tone – talking (it may seem) of you and me – these poems are perceptive and witty. They ring with clarity as they pay witness to the turn of the seasons, environmentally, domestically and politically. Their range of reference is both broad and local, as Norcliffe sweeps his lens through time and space and, with superb control of focus, zooms in and out on the peculiarities of our species and our planet. The ‘here and now’ is vividly present in every poem, and every poem also quietly insists that there is much more to ‘here’ and ‘now’ than is obvious at first glance. To read a Norcliffe poem can be to feel the sun on one’s face and, simultaneously, a shiver down the spine.”