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Category: What people say …

National Poetry Day in Picton

Dear Gus
I was thrilled to receive my copies of Poems4Peace last week.
They arrived just in time for National Poetry Day so I could read my poem “Deserted House” from the book itself rather than a piece of A4 paper. I showed the anthology to members of Picton Poets and they all agreed it is a lovely production. Congratulations.
I belong to Picton Poets and we organised a reading at the Picton Library at lunchtime along with a poetry board, a continuous poem for people to add to on a roll of brown paper on the end of one of the shelves facing the counter, and poems created from Book titles. This involved a number of people selecting book titles on a theme and stacking them on top of each other with the Poem’s title on top – quite an original idea from one of the librarians.
The Picton librarian was very pleased to receive a donated copy of the anthology.
I added one to my own poetry collection, gave one to my father, sold one to the convenor of  Picton Poets and have two for sale in an artisans’ collective shop in High Street, Picton that I am a member of.
It was good to see the author profiles at the back of the book.
Kind regards and many thanks for the opportunity.
Julie Kennedy

Thank you … from UK

Hi Gus, just to let you know the books arrived in the UK yesterday, I especially love the cover!  Thanks for the chance to participate in such a special project.  I’m giving one of the books to my friend who inspired ‘Rasp’.
Best wishes
Margaret Vos

Warm wishes, prayers and support …

Dear Gus,
So kind of you and proud to be the part of Printable Reality and with Poems4Peace Project 2014.

It was a wonderful journey and ofcourse YES We might have not achieved THE world peace just yet,, But GENUINE EFFORTS SPEAKS.. Its KARMA as per the mythology..

Obliged and grateful for your presence, timely support and hats off to each brain behind this AND INVOLVED IN IT,,,

Kindly accept my compassionate hugs from India,,

WAITING FOR THE NEXT EVENT AND UPDATES…

regards and prayers

Dr. Rashmi Chandran

Poems4Peace 2014 Book Launch

And thank you Gus for all that you and the terrific Printable Reality team around you are doing for poetry, sustainability, and peace. You are truly an inspiration and I am very honoured to have been part of yesterday’s event.

Me rongo
Denise Davis

“Generation 0” Conference

Hi Gus / Printable Reality

Just wanted to thank you hugely for joining us at the ClimateVote summit in Auckland weekend before last to share your beautiful poetry with everyone. Everyone in the Generation Zero team and who attended really loved your energy and your contribution was massively appreciated =D

By the end of the weekend, the energy felt fantastic and people were eager to get involved with us for the elections. We had about 100 people attending of all ages, and the engagement was of really high quality, thanks in a huge part to you.

I adored the new poem I heard, and would love to keep up dialogue with you, especially as I think about what my life trajectory will look like following university. I also heard some awesome things about your poem following the Summit from participants. You really helped us convey the message that storytelling, heart and art is a powerful way of engaging with people on global issues – often youth can get so lost in the ‘head’ and ‘hands’ of campaigning that they forget the power of emotional connection for change.

Nalini Sighn

best to all at Printable Reality

Really enjoyed the reading last night! Thanks to you and Laura for putting it all together, and steering so good-humouredly through such a baroque series of open mike’s …

best to all at Printable Reality,

yours, dr Jack Ross

Check out my blog at http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/

Poetry4Peace Workshop at Voices of the Sacred Earth Festival 2014

Hi Gus,

Everyone looked so intensely involved in their creative process when I walked past Prema on Saturday.  What a great group you had to work with.  I hope you enjoyed the afternoon and thank you so much for engaging so well with your group. It was very much appreciated.
I really value your unique contribution to the festivals and will be in touch soon about  performance poetry for the Yoga Festival.
Much love from all the Kawaipurapura festival team and many many thanks,
Dyana Wells

Page2Stage 2014

Hi Gus,

thanks for all your hard work on this great programme. What a gorgeous gathering the other night, and such a treat to hear everyone read too. Lovely place Q theatre, never been there before.

Great to be involved again. It’s really exciting.

Sincerely,
Raewyn Alexander BIC

Great work!

Gus

It was so good to (finally) see the Lovers Walk last night. Great work!
Good too, to have a copy of your poems from this work, I picked up at Lopdell yesterday.

I am looking forward to attending Pah event tomorrow.

Well done again with Lovers Walk, very much enjoyed.

 

Celine Sumic

Congratulations ….

Congratulations Gus and Siri. What a successful show last night. And so fantastic to see so many people there that are not poetry regulars. You are doing a great job of extending the audience beyond the ‘converts’. Well done, must be a great feeling on the cusp of your trip.

Lawrence Brock

Performance opportunity

thanx for the entertaining night at the chocolate theatre the other week, i was impressed with the wide variety of work. i’m wondering if you may be interested in letting me perform again at any future events. i was the guy did the t.v poem with guitar. i have oodles of material and have been enjoying the odd spot here and there after a few years of not performing. seems a shame to be walking around with all these words in me noggin and not sharing

dave normal

Poetry

Thank you Gus and Gail for accepting me in your project. I find it a blessing to work with a wonderful group like yourselves. Also with awesome poetry artist.
Lee Ah yen

Aotearoa

Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful experience… especially Gus and Gail for making it all happen! I look forward to when we get to do it again!

Prema Cottingham

Privileged to be a part of the show at TAPAC

Startling, innovative show, some challenging work, quite

controversial, so courageous, also some extraordinary lyricism and beauty.
Excellent to see young poets with a chance to read in a theatre with professionals. Rosanna
Raymond’s video sent from the UK so powerful, multi-layered and grand.
This presentation can only get better every year …

Raewyn Alexander

 

Aotearoa Found in Translation

A lovely last night. Thank you for including my poem and me in the show. I loved being involved and also loved watching it change slightly from night to night.
Thanks to the wonderful actors, who held the show together on the stage and to Yelena, who without her work back stage, nothing could have happened. It was a privilege being involved with you all.
Ila Selwyn

From the poet

Thanks, it was a very professional show.…
I was sorry to have to leave early I could have happily seen the show again and this time I had intended to try and identify some of the poets quoted. Dinah Hawken, for instance, is a friend of mine and Glenn Colqhoun has read for us.
It was a nice thing to do – coming up and reading for you and I thought I’d like to be there to support a poetry activity and its organisers…
Yes I liked the interactive aspects on stage and felt it brought the poetry to life.
 I appreciated the simple dress on stage that didn’t distract from the words and congratulations to the performers who were loud and clear so nothing was missed. Such a lot of work all that learning of the poetry and not one hitch when I was there.
I certainly enjoyed it very much. I was made to feel very welcome and included and was so sorry I had to rush off on the Sunday night. The big earthquake had hit Wellington just before I got there and I knew quite a few things were broken at home (but I didn’t mind as no one was hurt neither people I knew nor people I didn’t know). I would have loved to have stayed on and met and talked to people but have had some email contact with some of them since which has been lovely. Congratulations is due to all involved such hard work behind the scenes.
Gill Ward

Poetry from the Soul

Hi Gus

I am amazed and delighted and impressed( and lots more words like that !) with your Poetry from the Soul event. It is a a sensational creation.I love how it is wide and deep and high and solid yet transparent. And all-inclusive  yet deeply personal.  I am so pleased we have such a creative and generous person as you in Auckland.
I would be delighted to attend if I possibly can, and bring food.
with kindest regards and love,
Anita Arlov

INSOMNIA

Hi Gus

I have just seen Insomnia in a Daydream teaser. It is very cool.
 I like the music very much.
 I adore the woodcut quality of the images, and the Michaelangelo feel of the opening image. I like how the  flickering dots imitate our restless thought processes as we try hard to fall asleep. I like the projected questions, and the way the work is sectioned. I like the final concept of not being afraid to fall asleep because it has been so fraught in the past – every night is a new night just like every day that dawns is  a new day, a clean page. I had not thought of that before; it is a brilliant and heartening concept you have discovered.
Fantastic guys you have taken a big thing and made it simple and manageable. That is always the hardest thing I reckon.
Love and best wishes
Anita Arlov

That was a brilliant opening night …

… for Printable Reality’s Aotearoa-Found in Translation. Poems, delivered by poets and a group of young actors, that seemlessly flowed together to unfold the stories of new immigrants to this land. It was a story of identity of peoples from different places living here. The main thing is to know who you are, where you came from (whakapapa) and be comfortable with yourself. Well done to everyone involved.

Miles Hughes

The new show

Love your inventiveness, Gus and Siri. And love Dub Text’s music.
Looking forward to seeing the new show.
love
Ila Selwyn

Last night was great

Hi Gus,
Last night was great !!
Sorry had to leave bit early, Val had a lot of discomfort in her back towards the end and is having back surgery shortly.
Well done though, we loved the theme of the show.
Cheers and thanks !
Robert Edvards

ID video

Gus — this is wonderful! I wan to post and share it but I will wait until I know that is what you’d like. can you send me more details about Insomnia in a Daydream show so I can post those too?

 

Michelle Elvy

Insomnia video teaser

I loved it, but in places I lost the words and I think they need to be very clear because they are what it is about… gorgeous though, it works really well.
Kirsten Warner

Well done, and thanks for inviting me

Hi Gus – you vanished before I could talk to you last night.  I did enjoy my Pumphouse experience – love Sali and Dubtxt.  You are a very good interviewer, relaxed and easy.  But I HATED the footlights.  I feel that poetry is very interactive and not to be able to see the audience was very disconcerting.  Particularly on Friday, as we had a small intimate audience, and I would love to have been able to see their body language and so on.  I can see if it is a huge house it might be different, but with a small house I do like to see my audience.  Perhaps I have been spoiled or ruined at Poetry Live and the pub scene! 

Also I really enjoyed The White Wall performance.  Felt it went so well with Laurence’s music.  Well done, and thanks for inviting me.

 Cheers,

Penny Somervaille

 

Many thanks

Hi Gus
What a great evening last night.
Printable Reality show is fantastic and your warmth and enthusiasm are infectious..
Am looking forward to performing with you in Wellington.
Juliet Shelly

An evocative performance

Recently I had the pleasure of experiencing an enjoyable evening in which poetry, dance, music, and photo-imaging were fused into an evocative performance. Siri Embla and Gus Simonovic’s “Lovers Walk” relates the real-life story of their meeting, working together, and eventually falling in love, but it goes well beyond storytelling. If we all are indeed “actors on the stage of life” then Siri and Gus have devised a captivating way of sharing their story. It is performance art that is at once personal and universal.
– Ramon Higgins, Thames, New Zealand

Thank you for your invaluable contribution

Dear Gus

The team at Kawai Purapura would like to say thank you  and Printable Reality for your invaluable contribution to the International Conference and Festival; you helped to make the event possible and successful by injecting integrity, thoughtfulness, insight and learning into open hearts and minds.

We feel that the event was a success and we’d love to do it all again next year around the end of March, would you like to join us?

Warmest Regards

Dyana Wells

 

Very much enjoyed poets reading

Dear Gus

Very much enjoyed meeting you and hearing you and other poets reading last night.

Thanks for encouraging Laura to read!

Keep in touch and let us know about future events.

All best

Charlie, and Laura

I really enjoyed your show

Hi Gus,
I really enjoyed your show, it looks great now! My article was “circumcised” massively, was only published today and without the photo (I sent your poster photo)…. editor’s restrictions, nothing I can do… but here it is, anyway.
I sent personal messages to many friends last night, might come again tonight.
Love,
Edna Snow

First Page reading

Hi Gus. Love the photos on FB – they capture the evening really well. It
was a wonderful event; I really enjoyed it, and was very glad I went.
Auckland has replaced Christchurch as my favourite non-Wellington place to
visit in NZ.

 

Laurice Gilbert

Evening of Indian music and poetry

Hi Gus

Congratulations on your successful programme and the audience was fantastic. Special thanks to Prosad  for his kindness.

A very special thanks to Rahul for his kindness.

Thank you once again for giving me the opportunity to be the part of your wonderful evening.

Rani and Rifat

Invoice and Music

Dear Kirsten

Thanks for organising such a great occasion – which i really really enjoyed.
A splendid mix of poets. My dear book club ladies all enjoyed it also – having come just for a bit of support for me and they were greatly entertained by all of it

Thanks too for inviting me  -was good to meet you – after all the emails – and also to meet other poets –  the lovely young Michelle B has invited me to read at one of the evenings she is associated with. And i had such a lovely chat during afternoon tea with Peter Bland.

So  all good and i hope to see you again at some other poetry gatherings

Cheers

Sandra Frazer

Lovers Walk Show

I am so so so delighted with how show has come together.  Outstanding performance, I truly admire both of  you. You really DID this GREAT – Printable Reality at its best.
I thank you for the work that i have really enjoyed, and even tho most poems are so well known, tonight you gave them completely new feel

Yelena Dumanovic

 

 

Eclectic mix of the arts …

“As one of the performers who had the opportunity to share my poetry earlier this year at the historic Pah Homestead, I would love to see this event continuing into the future. These events offer an eclectic mix of the arts to a diverse and appreciative audience.”
Regards Jim Carraher

The regular performances clearly impressed gallery patrons ….

In 2011 I was a performer and audience member for the InVoice and Music series. The regular performances clearly impressed gallery patrons who otherwise would never see live poetry and music in Auckland, for free. The organisation required to run these events needs some payment to make up for time and travel, because the level of talent in InVoice and Music is at a professional level. Many of the performers and organisers sacrifice time in which they would otherwise be doing paid work to volunteer their performances at InVoice and Music. I sincerely appreciate the TSB Wallace Trust’s past support of the performances at Pah, and I hope that more financial support can be given in 2012, to continue to grow the wonderful artistic/philanthropic relationship which occurs at Pah Homestead.
Thank you
Michael Botur

One Year Celebration at Pah Homestead

As someone involved in the arts through poetry and music, it has been a priviledge to play at such a beautiful and iconic venue over the last couple of years. Having a blend of the visual arts, written poetry and music is such a great combination and brings in new audiences for all three art forms. The setting is fabulous and to be able to offer compensation to the artists who perform would go a long way in supporting this fantastic venture in the Auckland arts scene that has been going from strength to strength.

 

Anna Kaye

Garden Party at Pah Homestead

Thanks for an exciting event, and richly deserving of a celebration.I thoroughly endorse and congratulate the Pah Homestead readings at the new Wallace Trust Art Gallery. In 2011, the organisers have quickly established the readings as an entertaining and enjoyable literary events which, in the forum of the art gallery, helps compliment the surroundings and offers a stimulating and diverse mix of literary performers. Long may this continue. Auckland, which its rich literary – particularly poetic – depth needs an afternoon weekend literary event of this calibre to help continue to express itself.

Siobhan Harvey

Fantastic to see/hear those young writers …

Hi Gus

Nice to have met you last night at the gallery. Fantastic to see/hear those young writers, wasn’t it?

Thought I’d just touch base. Have looked at your website. Very impressive and one which is very necessary for the continued well-being of poetry in this country. In fact, your enthusiasm for NZ poetry is also terrific – it’s such a small market and it often struggles to keep on its feet.

Keep up the good work.

Kia kaha

Iain Britton

Audience were definitely engaged …

Dear Gus and Kirsten

Well I was very nervous but I think it went well – I got lots of good feedback so that was nice – now I’m having a well-earned drink!

Thank you for inviting me and the lovely introduction Gus. Hard to believe it’s three years since the three of us met at Siobhan’s Advanced Poetry Workshop (and yes I was in the ‘wrong’ group but it turned out to be the right one of course)

Kirsten I have attached what I read fyi – you’ll both be pleased to know they have all just been accepted for publication – yay!

Any feedback happily received of course – all helps me improve…

I thought it was a good show – nice balance of different things and you filled in very well for Tourettes Gus – audience were definitely engaged. Great setting too.

Maris O’Rourke

Thanks for the opportunity

Hey Gus

Just a quick email to say thanks so much for the opportunity to perform tonight, I hope it was up to the standard that was set by you and Siri’s amazing performance.
The show was so moving, haunting and hypnotic, you guys should be super proud of yourselves!
Thank you so much , truly inspirational!
I look forward to coming next Saturday, and let me know if there is anything I can do..
Michelle Bolton

A Poetic Journey

I felt the scenes were really beautiful and had a great finishing touch.

Great to see people inspired to go that extra mile in creativity and individuality. Nice to think that you felt some of it was inspired by the community. I would think the courage it would take to do this would make any other productions you do a stroll in the park.

Tom R.

 

Printable Reality events

Hey Gus, been meaning to tell you for a long time that what you and Printable Reality are doing for the Art climate in Auckland is amazing. You are a man that lives and works the dream. I think I have missed so much of the good stuff but hope to catch what’s next.

Aroha to you.

Angela Langton

inVOICE and Music @ Whitespace, featuring The White Wall and AUT dance Co

I sooooooo enjoyed the show last night- thank you. I tried to give my congrats to everyone but missed one of the poets (brunette who wore black) and Siri and the wall. It all worked well together I thought. Also, for me, the space worked quite well in its informality showing off the involving mix of poetry, dance, music and visuals very well. The white walls in their simplicity showed off the richness of the works and their meeting points.

Again thank you!
Yours in dance,

Linda Ashley

Why Don’t We? – Literatti show, presented by Printable Reality at Auckland Fringe 2011

Unmasking my enthusiasm
The spaces – broke down my paradigm of noise = action for a moment
Felt like a generation gladly coming undone with the desire to undo obligatory questions to make way for new ones
The sensuality of connections between the actors/poets was evocative and thrilling as was the unabashed content
Lines so good, I found… myself writing them down on my programme in the darkness
Bravo

Rosetta Allan

Saturday event @ Pah Homestead

Thanks for making the Saturday event @ Pah Homestead so pleasant and thanks too for the ‘picnic’ afterwards.

Thanks, Gus, for being inclusive. I appreciate your asking me to be part of that event  and I hope there may be some more in the future. It will keep me writing.

Very best and have a great day,

Riemke Ensing