Sending tigers to the moon

The IIML and Radio New Zealand celebrate the infinite creative possibilities of radio in a new reading series.

31 March 2017

Work by graduates of Victoria’s MA in Creative Writing will be showcased in a new series on Radio New Zealand National’s Nine to Noon programme.

Page Numbers (April 3 – 7) features fiction, creative non-fiction, drama and poetry by Nicole Phillipson, Eamonn Marra, Rebecca Hawkes, Harry Meech, Ben Wilson and William Connor . All six completed the MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2016.

IIML Senior Lecturer Emily Perkins says: 'Radio is a magic place for a writer, where anything can happen on the most modest of budgets. Send a tiger to the moon? Why think so small? Alpha Centauri, the glory days of the Ottoman Empire, the inside of someone's head – it's all there on radio, just waiting to be voiced, and waiting to be heard.'

The new series expands on a long-standing connection between the IIML and RNZ. IIML Director of Scriptwriting Ken Duncum has for some years sent his students to RNZ for a workshop on writing scripts purely based in sound.

Perkins says the impetus to expand this relationship came from the students themselves: or rather, from the sound of their words. 'Listening in workshop, as we do every week, it struck us that some of the students' writing would be just right for radio, that they had the necessary sense of rhythm, timing, character, the snap of language, the pull on a line.'

RNZ's Commissioning Editor of Drama and Readings Adam Macaulay says the public broadcaster is very proud of this new collaboration with the IIML. 'Part of what we should be able to do at RNZ is to make use of opportunities to champion and celebrate new writing and new young writers. It’s exciting projects like this that make RNZ different in an increasingly amorphous and sadly uniform media environment.'

The intensely aural nature of the creative writing process makes radio its natural home in many ways. 'We work with our mind's ear,' says Perkins. 'We listen as we write. Often, we read our work back to ourselves aloud, to test it for leaks or dodgy rattles. If it sounds off, you know instantly – and if it lands right, you're on your way. The ear doesn't lie.'

The Page Numbers series will air on Nine to Noon on Radio New Zealand National’s The Reading at 10:45am.

Reading schedule:

Mon 3^rd April 10:45 – Forever Setting Off then Going Back Inside by Nicole Phillipson

Tue 4^th April 10:45 – See You at the Airport by Harry Meech and three poems by William Connor

Wed 5^th April 10:45 – Hookworm by Rebecca Hawkes

Thur 6^th April 10:45 – Plain Crazy by Ben Wilson

Fri 7^th April 10:45 – My Friend Rod by Eamonn Marra and three poems by William Connor

Following the initial broadcast, listeners can also go online to listen to the series again and pick up bonus material.