Fish Stories reel in the reader

8 June 2015

Fish Stories reel in the reader

The latest collection of poetry from Mary Cresswell has been published by Canterbury University Press.

In this collection, Cresswell is at her imaginative best as she builds on her experiments with ghazal, a traditional form of Middle Eastern and Indian lyric poetry.

Cresswell says readers will enjoy the collection’s variety and will find humour in her work.

“It is accessible poetry, using rhyme, varying poetic structures and a range of topics. Readers will find humour, surprises and a jumping-off point for their own thoughts,” she says.

Cresswell says she hopes that the collection will encourage other poets look at the way they work and also appeal to those reading for pleasure.

“It collects observations of the outside world and different ways of writing poems.

“I want to encourage other poets to use formal verse and rhyme, as I think it’s rewarding and fun, and I want to show readers poems which are both thought provoking and a pleasure to read.”

Cresswell says the collection is “not confessional, not an emotional diary and not an autobiography”.

Fish Stories has been designed and printed in collaboration with Ilam Press and the School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury.

About the author:
Mary Cresswell came to New Zealand from Los Angeles in 1970. She began writing poetry while winding down a full-time career as a freelance technical editor with a main interest in New Zealand natural history. Mary is co-author of Millionaire’s Shortbread (Otago University Press, 2003) and the author of two more poetry books, Nearest & Dearest (2009), and Trace Fossils (2011), both published by Steele Roberts.

Fish Stories by Mary Cresswell, published by Canterbury University Press, May 2015, RRP $25, ISBN: 978-1-927145-66-1.

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