The Goose Bath

. The celebrated New Zealand writer’s final masterwork, described as ‘a volume that alters the landscape of New Zealand poetry’ will be released in Australia in September 2008.

Twice shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature, Janet Frame (author of An Angel at My Table) published many novels during her lifetime, but only one collection of poetry, way back in 1967. From that time until her death in 2004, Frame kept her poetry largely to herself, piling her poems into a bathtub once used by the family geese. Over time the ‘goose bath’ overflowed with hundreds of brilliant unpublished poems. By the time she died in 2004, Frame had named her hoped-for but elusive new selection The Goose Bath. She never saw it published.From this treasure trove her literary executors selected over 100 poems that illustrate the shape of her life: her childhood and the subsequent difficult years in mental hospitals; her travels around the world; her life as a writer, growing older and facing illness and death. features the fascinating account of how the book came into being, written by Frame’s niece and literary executor, Pamela Gordon, and poet Bill Manhire.

Pamela Gordon is expected in Melbourne in September for the Australian launch of The Goose Bath.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633 or RSVP on Facebook.