Introducing Tauranga Writers

Tauranga Writers is New Zealand's longest-running self-help group for writers, established in 1967. We meet twice a month on the first Thursday at 7 pm and on the third Sunday at 2 pm. Our present venue is the Tauranga Environment Centre, 12 Elizabeth Street.

Most meetings concentrate on 'work in progress' with constructive feedback between us. We also exchange information about writing in general, and our own and Tauranga Writers' ongoing projects. To date, Tauranga Writers has produced a CD, Where Poets Gather: Ten Poets From the Bay of Plenty (reading their own work); a jubilee anthology This Side of the World: Tauranga Writers Celebrating 40 Years, a collection of member's work across four decades, and, in 2009, Narratives with Nosh: Stories, Recipes and Poems, edited by Margaret Beverland with Jenny Argante ($25 direct incl. P. & P.) Enquiries about our publications should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We also organise up to four speaker meetings a year, open to all, and two masterclasses with established writers in liaison with the University of Waikato in Tauranga. In 2009 we welcomed playwright Roger Hall and children's writer and essayist David Hill, both renowned in their own fields. In March 2010 there was a masterclass on Short Story Writing with Graeme Lay.

Tauranga Writers contribute a weekly column, 'The Write Place', published every Saturday in The Bay of Plenty Times, on the Books Page. With it is 'Poet's Corner' - a weekly poem, suitable for a family newspaper, and up to 24 lines in length. Our monthly newsletter, Update, is packed full of information about creative writing in the Bay and beyond, including markets, wards, competitions, etc. Attending members get this free on payment of their $30 annual subscription, or as 'postal members' (our friends) for only $10 a year.

Projects that we as members or as individuals hope to be involved with over the next two or three years include:

• Books Behind Bars, an initiative to get reading materials of all kinds to men and women in prison.

• Writers Anonymous, to be formed as an independent ‘write to heal’ group in Tauranga – perhaps boosted by a national conference here in the Bay of Plenty this year or next.

• National Poetry Day (Friday 30th July in 2010.)

• Double Vision, an exhibition of words and images by writers and artists working together at The Gallery, Creative Tauranga in Willow Street, from 27th August to 11th September.

• Imprints 2010: New Zealand Bookfair & Information Exchange. A New Zealand Book Month event. Full programme available now. This is best described as a ‘meet and greet’ this October of writers, publishers, literary agents, manuscript mentors, and editors of mainstream and small press magazines. We’re all in this together! – writing, that is.

Tauranga Writers is also working hard to promote the cause of young writers (aged 18 to 23) who want to make professional writing a part-time or full-time career. Again, a conference here in the Bay could be the best means of determining how to achieve this. The other category of young writers, usually defined as 13-18, can be safely left to BookRapt, Storylines and the School for Young Writers in Christchurch.

Interested in writing? Check out our free handouts available online. All further enquiries to Information. [ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . ]