14 Wairarapa Midweek Extra Wednesday, June 15, 2022 ARATOI VOICES
Extra
Evening adventure at Aratoi
Stargazing in the park. PHOTO/ANDY BATEMAN
If you are an early riser like me (not by choice but because of young children in the house) you will have seen the sunrise recently. We often take our natural environment for granted, forgetting that the sun always rises towards the east and sets in the west, moving closer to the north as the Winter Solstice approaches. The sky is like a giant map, a calendar and compass all in one. Certain stars can only be seen at particular times of the year so when you observe that star rise in the evening or the morning it can remind you to do something, gather in the harvest, plan for a voyage or plant. The rising of Matariki in the dawn sky signifies a special time for us here in Aotearoa. It is when we take note of the Winter Solstice, our nights are at their longest; but it is also a time to reflect on the past year and plan for the next.
Spica is our autumn star, rising in the east in the evening. It reminds us to bring in our harvest before the cold weather comes. Scorpius/Te Matau-aMāui is our winter marker, slowly crawling across the sky for the six months of winter. Join us for a public programme in connection with our exhibition Ngā Haerenga/Journeys – Celebrating Matariki. Using the stars to navigate and tell the times of the year has been an important resource for people for thousands of years across the world. This is an outdoor programme, starting at Aratoi and moving into Queen Elizabeth Park, 7-8pm and is weather dependent. Cost: $20; limited to 40 spaces. Bookings essential info@aratoi.co.nz or call (06) 370-0001 to book your place.
Creative writer to feature at Word Multi-award-winning writer Jillian Sullivan will feature at Wairarapa Word’s event on June 19. Sullivan is the author of fiction, non-fiction, memoir, short stories and poetry for adults, teenagers and children. She has taught creative writing in NZ and the USA. Sullivan has a masters’ degree in creative writing as well as winning awards in New Zealand, Australia and the USA for her poetry, children’s stories, memoir fiction and nonfiction. Sullivan grew up in Masterton but is now based in the Ida Valley in Central Otago, where she cycles and tramps in that unique environment. She is the secretary of the Central Otago Environmental Society. As part of the discussion about writing, memoir and the environment Sullivan
will include the visual and poetic power point on walking the length of the Manuherekia River that she presented to the Environment Court. Otago University Press describe Sullivan’s latest book, Map For the Heart, as ‘a haunting collection of essays braiding history and memoir with environmentalism. It leads readers to the core of the questions that persist throughout a life: who to love, how to love, how to be independent and yet how to live a moral life that also cares for others’. Joy Cowley said, ‘The writing is so beautiful it fills me with wonder, laughter and tears’. Writer and Wai Word committee member Madeleine Slavick said, ‘Map for the Heart really grew on me. A blend of personal, environmental and political. Poetry
and prose. The last five essays are phenomenal unforgettable’. In her memoir A Way Home Sullivan describes the process of building her straw bale house. Publisher Potton and Burton said, ‘The house that emerges through this memoir is a physical testament to the rebuilding of a life, and of moving past loneliness and loss to find a place to call home’. Copies of A Way Home and Map for the Heart will be on sale at the event. • Wairarapa Word will meet in the foyer at the Carterton Events Centre on Sunday, June 19, at 3pm. Entry is by koha. Masks are required. There will be an open mike session at the beginning. Wairarapa Word is supported by Almo’s Books and Carterton Creative Communities.
Jillian Sullivan.
PHOTO/SUPPLIED
