Conference to explore New Zealand’s classical influences

Athens to Aotearoa: Greece and Rome in New Zealand Literature and Society will feature writers and artists as speakers, including keynote speaker Professor Witi Ihimaera, as well as a number of highly regarded classical academics from New Zealand and abroad.

“We have been lucky enough to have attracted several very good creative New Zealanders who are willing to talk about their ideas and how they’ve engaged with texts, themes, and ideas from antiquity,” says conference organiser, Professor Jeff Tatum.

“In New Zealand contemporary prose and poetry in particular, the classical influence is quite prevalent.”

Co-organiser, Dr Simon Perris, says that a call for creative contributors brought some interesting people out of the woodwork.

“We received emails from people with Alexander the Great novels languishing in their drawer, people who had written comic graphic novels, and a number of writers of traditional historical fiction. New Zealand’s classical influence ranges from TV series like Xena and Hercules right through to high end literary novels.” 

As well as Professor Ihimaera discussing the place of classical mythology in his work, other speakers include artist Marian McGuire, best-known for lithographs and etchings that combine imagery from Greek vase painting with New Zealand colonial history; Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson, an expert in classical and heritage language education who will talk about how classical education is making a comeback in United Kingdom and New Zealand schools; and Professor John Davidson, Emeritus Professor of Classics at Victoria University of Wellington, who will discuss classical themes in the poetry of R.A.K. Mason, one of New Zealand’s foremost twentieth-century poets.

“Our conference will be a unique event in New Zealand’s intellectual and cultural history,” says Professor Tatum.

When: 4-6 September 2014

Where: Old Government Building, Lambton Quay

To register: Visit http://tinyurl.com/athenstoaotearoa