Wellington Writers Walk


The Wellington Writers Walk is made up of a series of 23 quotations from New Zealand writers, including poets, novelists, and playwrights. The quotations are placed along the Wellington waterfront, from Kumutoto stream to Oriental Bay, in the form of contemporary concrete plaques or inlaid metal text on wooden 'benchmarks'. They were designed by Catherine Griffiths and Fiona Christeller and installed to honour and celebrate the lives and works of these well-known writers, all of whom had some connection to Wellington.

History

The began as a project of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa under the inaugural committee of Eirlys Hunter, Robin Fleming, Dame Fiona Kidman, Barbara Murison, Ann Packer, Susan Pearce, Judy Siers and Joy Tonks. The committee later comprised Rosemary Wildblood, Robyn Cooper, Sarah Gaitanos, Michael Keith and Barbara Murison.
The first series of 11 concrete plaques were designed by internationally renowned typographer Catherine Griffiths, with each plaque having an individual sponsor. The Writers Walk was opened during New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week, part of the International Festival of the Arts, on 11 March 2002. Stage Two of the Walk was launched on 8 May 2004. Catherine Griffiths was awarded the Terry Stringer Award at the BEST Design Awards in 2002 for her work on the sculptures.
The quotations for Jack Lasenby, Joy Cowley, James McNeish and Elizabeth Knox were unveiled by the then patron, Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, in a ceremony on the waterfront on 20 March 2013. These were designed by award-winning Wellington architect Fiona Christeller.
The Writers Walk attracts a lot of attention from locals as well as visitors, tourists, bloggers and photographers, and is also a popular expedition for school groups.
Past Patrons of the Wellington Writers Walk have included Dame Silvia Cartwright, Sir Anand Satyanand, Sir Jerry Mateparae and Lady Janine Mateparae and Dame Patsy Reddy.

Events

In 2008, the Wellington Writers Walk committee held the Wellington Sonnet Competition, sponsored by New Zealand Post, which attracted over 200 entries. The competition was judged by Harry Ricketts and won by Michele Amas, with Saradha Koirala and Richard Reeve in second and third place respectively.
In 2012, New Zealand was Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the Wellington Writers Walk played a starring role, with large decals of the quotations appearing alongside the River Main in Frankfurt. It was launched there in September 2012 by New Zealand writers Hamish Clayton and Tina Makereti, both in residence at Frankfurt's Weltkulturen Museum.
The Writers Walk featured in a 2015 Spectrum documentary when presenter Jack Perkins explored part of the walk with Rosemary Wildblood, Barbara Murison and Philippa Werry.
In 2017, a project for the Wai-Te-Ata Press at Victoria University of Wellington, called the Literary Atlas of Wellington, was undertaken to create an augmented reality mobile application based on the Wellington Writers Walk.

List


PlaqueWriterDatesQuotationSourceLocation
Elizabeth Knoxb. 1959The evening light concentrated, till the city and the
topped-up trembling horizon beyond
Pencarrow Head would begin to look like
a seaport in someone's lost paradise.		From 'Provenance'
in The Love School
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%231/@-41.2828242,174.7782602,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38af4843440b07:0xe2c62ecfc5693f00!8m2!3d-41.2828256!4d174.779034
Eileen Duggan1894-1972My quiet morning hill
Stands like an altar drawn
Whereon hushed hands shall lay
The shining pyx of dawn.
With penitence and stir,
And drowsy flurry by,
The wind, a shamefaced serving-boy
Comes running up the sky.		'The Acolyte'
in Selected Poems: Eileen Duggan,
ed. Peter Whiteford
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%232/@-41.2839725,174.7780358,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38afe4ff57ea8d:0x6733410e451a82c5!8m2!3d-41.2839725!4d174.7791301
Denis Glover1912-1980The harbour is an ironing board;
Flat iron tugs dash smoothing toward
Any shirt of a ship, any pillowslip
Of a freighter they decree ''Must be ironed flat as washing from the sea.		From 'Wellington Harbour is a Laundry'
in Come High Water
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%233/@-41.2872816,174.7772092,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38afb69d22f1ef:0x8ee95667be0ad78f!8m2!3d-41.2872857!4d174.7793979
Michael King1945-2004I baited my line, watched it sink, and waited with
exquisite anticipation for the pecking of mullet,
the sucking of trevally, or - best of all - the sudden
pull of kahawai or kingfish.		From Being Pakeha Now
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%234/@-41.2872735,174.7772092,17z/data=!3m1!4b1
Louis Johnson1924-1988From Brooklyn hill, ours is a doll-size city
A formal structure of handpicked squares and bricks
Apprehensible as a child’s construction
Signifying community.		From 'Last View of Wellington'
in Fires and Patterns
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%235/@-41.2879898,174.7772166,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38af241aa73ceb:0x203f65349b01e111!8m2!3d-41.2879939!4d174.7794053
Pat Lawlor1893-
1979		And now, as I grow in years,
I feel at times like an old
violin played on by a master
hand. You, dear city, are
the maestro drawing the bow
over the sensibilities of my
mind, echoing the music
of my days.		From Old Wellington Days
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%236/@-41.2879817,174.7772166,17z/data=!3m1!4b1
Lauris Edmond1924-2000It’s true you can’t live here by chance,
you have to do and be, not simply watch
or even describe. This is the city of action,
the world headquarters of the verb –		From 'The Active Voice'
in Scenes from a Small City
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%237/@-41.2879736,174.7772166,17z/data=!3m1!4b1
Vincent O'Sullivanb. 1937Then it’s Wellington we’re coming to!
It’s time, she says, it’s time surely
for us to change lanes, change tongues, they speak so differently down here.		From 'Driving South with Lucy to the Big Blue Hills'
in Seeing You Asked
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2888522,174.7787781,3a,90y,296.49h,86.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJJEEaRy_gnvrLbvg9ycqKQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Maurice Geeb. 1931Then out of the tunnel and
Wellington burst like a bomb.
It opened like a flower, was
lit up like a room, explained
itself exactly, became the
capital.		From Going West
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%239/@-41.2876527,174.7747313,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38af14faec583b:0x8f95516b4fc31200!8m2!3d-41.288232!4d174.7795063
Patricia Graceb. 1937I love this city, the hills, the harbour, the
wind that blasts through it. I love
the life and pulse and activity, and the
warm decrepitude... there’s always an edge
here that one must walk which is sharp
and precarious, requiring vigilance.		From Cousins
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%2310/@-41.2886204,174.7777457,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38afe3b907f2ed:0xa3f45f618b0a8b35!8m2!3d-41.2886245!4d174.7799344
Jack Lasenby1931-2019I want to live among people who believe in truth and
freedom...I want to discuss ideas... I want books...		From The Conjurer
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%2311/@-41.2896156,174.7777925,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xafaefeb47a23c55b!8m2!3d-41.2896197!4d174.7799812
Bill Manhireb. 1946I live at the edge
of the universe,
like everybody else.		From 'Milky Way Bar'
in Milky Way Bar
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2896284,174.7806273,3a,15y,243.93h,61.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sn_NVtqibXKt9jVTW1YSDcQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dn_NVtqibXKt9jVTW1YSDcQ%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D175.58965%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Sam Huntb. 1946Tall buildings no bigger than blocks on the floor,
Wellington afloat on the harbour haze...
You think of how most men spend their days
In offices as cramped as elevators –		From 'Letter to Jerusalem 2'
in Collected Poems 1963 - 1980
No good quality Google Maps link. Imagine this artwork is Just to the left, across the "diving board" from the previous link.
Bruce Mason1921-1982I ask that not only my city,
but all, give themselves
to the essence of our cult
– the ritual assembly of an
interested coterie in a space
where magic can be made
and miracles occur.		From Theatre in 1981: Omens and Portents
unpublished ms, Bruce Mason papers,
JC Beaglehole Room,
Victoria University of Wellington		In front of Circa Theatre, near Te Papa
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2901499,174.7808488,3a,74.7y,243.82h,86.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8J9u6MB_SmkgNuLmaCk5vQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell1925-2009Blue rain from a clear sky.
Our world a cube of sunlight –
but to the south
the violet admonition
of thunder.		From 'Blue Rain'
in The Dark Lord of Savaiki: Collected Poems
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.289743,174.7806881,3a,52.3y,157.13h,79.78t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMLIVNkRpOk9ecEpXdW0Mxg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Robin Hyde1906-1939Yet I think, having used my words as the kings used gold,
Ere we came by the rustling jest of the paper kings,
I who am overbold will be steadily bold,
In the counted tale of things.		From 'Words'
in Young Knowledge: The Poems of Robin Hyde,
ed. Michele Leggott
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2896105,174.7814115,3a,15.1y,188.51h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFQEnTAbixV7aMAv10jKy8Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
James K. Baxter1926-1972I saw the Maori Jesus
walking on Wellington Harbour.
He wore blue dungarees.
His beard and hair were long.
His breath smelt of mussels and paraoa.
When he smiled it looked like the dawn.		From 'The Maori Jesus'
in Collected Poems of James K Baxter,
ed. J E Weir
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2894922,174.7825234,3a,40.9y,216.75h,96.06t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sE78bVHG9-vzIABFIbMRo-g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Katherine Mansfield1888-1923Their heads bent, their
legs just touching, they
stride like one eager
person through the town,
down the asphalt zigzag
where the fennel grows
wild... the wind is so
strong that they have
to fight their way
through it, rocking like
two old drunkards.		From 'The Wind Blows'
in Bliss and Other Stories
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%2318/@-41.2886123,174.7777457,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38af3df6c6e91d:0xbcbc0b2e372e1649!8m2!3d-41.2893614!4d174.7830566
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.289475,174.7830662,3a,15.3y,4.59h,83.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swNW92B2EHJc_Y5HLwAtDLw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Joy Cowleyb. 1936Light dances on hills and office windows
and shakes its skirts over the harbour
in a wild fandango that attracts
the pale moths of yachts in droves		From the poem 'After the Southerly'
in Writing from the Heart
James McNeish1931-2016A ruffian wind is bliss, a blind man's
comfort station. When I get tired of walking
around it, I can always lean against it.		From The Crime of Huey Dunstan
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%2320/@-41.2896075,174.7777925,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38af6b529c7cbd:0xf231f95664c08acd!8m2!3d-41.2905541!4d174.7839984
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2905919,174.7839315,3a,16.9y,58.69h,72.06t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNIgJtDkQm_lkuShXQMfkSg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Marilyn Duckworthb. 1935Then with the coming of darkness the
bay opened up beneath us, like a shell splashed
with beads of light.		From A Barbarous Tongue
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2905718,174.7842898,3a,42.8y,2.21h,84.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxfvrnXGVfFZWE-yAA0KPaA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Fiona Kidmanb. 1940This town of ours kind of flattened
across the creases
of an imaginary map
a touch of parchment surrealism here
no wonder the lights
are wavering
all over the place
tonight
not a straight town at all		From 'Speaking with my Grandmothers'
in Writing Wellington,
ed. Roger Robinson
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%2322/@-41.2900549,174.7877836,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38afe8d6844ea9:0xaad9489e13827508!8m2!3d-41.290059!4d174.7899723
Barbara Anderson1926-2013Everything about it was
good. The tugging wind
trapped and cornered by
buildings, steep short
cuts bordered by Garden
Escapes, precipitous gullies
where throttling green
creepers blanketed the
trees beneath.		From 'The Girls'
in I Think We Should Go into the Jungle''
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington+Writer's+Walk+%2323/@-41.2886026,174.7974058,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x6d38af5987632455:0xb2bd5bb1d154048d!8m2!3d-41.2886026!4d174.7995945
https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2882879,174.799433,3a,15y,163.75h,89.91t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0u-42KPG1sflx37yBp5QNQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D0u-42KPG1sflx37yBp5QNQ%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D233.577%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192