Kingdom Animalia:the Escapades of Linnaeus

My new poetry collection, Kingdom Animalia: the Escapades of Linnaeus, has now been launched! Here's how the publisher, Auckland University Press, describes it:

Kingdom Animalia is a collection of poems that explore the various interactions between human beings and other animals, but also deals with wider subjects: love and loss, evolution and conservation, sex and death. The poems, which involve animals, as main subject or as passing guests, are arranged according to the six classes devised by eighteenth-century naturalist Carl Linnaeus, whose life’s mission was to classify the natural world. Modern taxonomy has evolved considerably but this standardised naming system is still a common language for classifying the natural world. The sections are linked by a prose poem about Linnaeus’ life.


Some photos from the launch:










Left to right: Me, reading, with Peter Clayworth, my partner & MC for the evening; My cousin Heather, my father & me; Sue (far left), Jay & me, downstairs at the Garden Club in Wellington.

There's a video of me reading 'The Icon Dies', from the book, in the video bar at the top of this page (the one with the bird mask).