James K Baxter (left) and John Weir were close friends when James was alive. Photo taken in 1967 at St Bede’s College, Christchurch, byJohn Hogan S.M.

WORKSHOP: How Writers and Artists have Depicted the Land and the People since 1840   Aotearoa/New Zealand

• The Colony 1840-1890 – William Pember Reeves and the settler poets

• Half-Colony, Half-Nation 1890-1930 – Katherine Mansfield’s stories

• Country under Siege: the Depression Years, World War Two, Post-War Blues 1930-1950 – John Mulgan’s novel Man Alone; Denis Glover’s poetry

• The times they are a-changing 1960-2000 – James K. Baxter’s poetry; the novels of Janet Frame

• Pop and Rap – anything goes 2000-2016 – You tell the story

Discussion points will include: Colonial attitudes – Pulling together in wartime; individualism in peacetime – Attitudes to Maori – The situation of women – Racism – Tolerating differences – The decline of institutional religion – Who are the poor? – Immigrants and refugees

John Weir is a Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Mary. During his years of active ministry he has been a schoolteacher, a chaplain at various Catholic colleges and communities, rector of St Patrick’s College, Wellington, rector and warden of Rochester Hall, a university hall of residence, a lecturer in English language and literature at the University of Canterbury and editor of Zelandia Catholic Newspaper. He is the author of four collections of poetry and his written or edited twelve books about New Zealand literature. He was a close friend of James K. Baxter, the New Zealand poet and social critic, and is well-known as Baxter’s editor.