POET and anthologist Jenny Bornholdt has her own writing shed in her back lawn.
At this time of the year it’s a good thing. Bornholdt has an “offensive” cold, and her manuscript The Hill of Wool to finish.
“You feel separate in the shed. I love Hataitai and working from home and I have a lovely view down the valley.”
It is a change from her “beautiful room” at Victoria University where she was based last year as the Writer in Residence at the International Institute of Modern Letters. There, she started writing her collection of more than 50 poems - The Hill of Wool - to be published on May 1.
Bornholdt’s inspiration was spurred on by an old school bulletin book that her friend found.
“The book had this photo of a huge pile of wool in a shearing shed on the cover. Children were looking at the pile of wool and it made me interested in writing poems about memory and forgetting. It looks like a hill but it looks like something soft and well, it’s quite hard to climb over a hill of wool,” she says, amused.
The opportunity to spend a whole year writing poetry in a beautiful room, surrounded by other writers, with full use of the University library was simply “blissful”, she says.
“It was nice to get to know some of the students with everyone focused on writing. I really loved that part of it. I feel incredibly lucky to have done it.”
Her residence follows a successful writing career. Always an avid reader, Lower-Hutt born Bornholdt started writing in 1984. She completed an English Literature degree and Diploma in Journalism and in 2002 she was awarded the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship before becoming an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate in 2003 and the fifth Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate in 2005.
Now, she is back home in Hataitai, proof-reading her manuscript, close to her husband and poet Gregory O’Brien who works in the basement.
“It is a nice basement,” she says laughing. “We are at opposite ends of the section and meet for coffee. At the moment he [Gregory] is doing lots of contract work so I’m proof reading, in between making afghans for our three children. It is a nice period. I can read through the manuscript and think about it.
“At times Gregory and I have both wished the other one worked in a bank or something, but mainly for financial reasons,” she says laughing.
O’Brien will join Bornholdt and New Zealand Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen for an evening of readings on February 24 at the City Gallery.
Organised by The National Library of New Zealand, Wellington poets Kate Camp, Bill Manhire, Vincent O’Sullivan, Ian Wedde, Gregory O’Brien, and Bornholdt, will join forces to share their words, which will be introduced by Capital Times theatre reviewer Lynn Freeman.
Seven Poets in the City, City Gallery, Civic Square, 5.30-7.30pm, Thursday, February 24.