Poetry Book of the Year:
Peter Olds: You fit the
description
In a photo-finish between the four main
university presses and the staunch independents, the poetry publisher of the
year, by a nose, is Cold Hub Press in Lyttelton. In 2014, Cold Hub not
only published impeccable editions of selected poems by Peter Olds (You Fit the Descripton, ISBN: 978-0-473-29803-6) and Michael Harlow (Sweeping the Courtyard, ISBN: 978-0-473-27420-7), they also effected
a change in the local publishing scene by releasing bi-lingual collections from
Latin American writers (among them Dunedin-resident Rogelio Guedea and Nicaraguan Ernesto Cardenal). Where did Cold Hub come from? Where are
they going? I have no idea. But all power to them.
I believe in Books of the Day or the Week or
the Month, but not so much Books of the Year. However, if I had to nominate one
for 2014 it would be You
Fit the Description: Selected poems of Peter Olds (Cold Hub Press). This
is a great summary of Olds' poetic output - it captures the measure of the man.
If you like Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, James K. Baxter or Geoff Cochrane you'll
adore Olds. The book is an exquisite production with a rock-solid introduction
by Olds' near-contemporary, Ian Wedde. A life's work, very much alive and going
strong....
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