Janet Charman
Janet Charman is a poet from New Zealand.
Background
Born in 1954, Charman grew up in the Hutt Valley and Taranaki.Charman initially trained as a nurse and worked in social welfare. After receiving an MA in English from the University of Auckland she worked as a tutor in the university's English department. In 1997 was named as a writer in residence and received a Literary Fellowship. She also received a fellowship from the Hong Kong Baptist University. Charman continues to teach writing classes and is based in Auckland.
Works
Charman's poems are often set in the suburbs of New Zealand and draw on issues that relate specifically to women, including topics such as sexuality, victimisation, and motherhood. She is known for her stylistic choices such as using limited punctuation and capitalisation, including lowercase for the pronoun 'I'.Collections of poetry published by Charman include:
- Drawing Together, with Marina Bachmann and Sue Fitchett
- 2 deaths in 1 night
- red letter
- end of the dry
- Rapunzel Rapunzel
- Snowing Down South
- Cold Snack
- The Pistils
Poems by Charman have appeared in the Best New Zealand Poems series, including in 2005 and 2007.