Earlier this year, we tracked down writers who had their first publication with Write On Magazine and we buddied them with current students.
Josiah Morgan (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto) is a 22-year-old artist and an Ōtautahi local. He is the author of four books with a fifth forthcoming, and can be regularly seen on stages across the country. We have loved having Josiah back at Write On as a tutor.
"The School for Young Writers and Write On were my fIrst real experiences with artistic rigour. Ultimately, working in the arts is not super glamorous, and includes a ton of dedication, resilience and practice. The School For Young Writers helped me with this, especially in the months(!) it took to write and fInish my fIrst published poem. " Josiah
Cooper is 15. He has attended Write On Saturday classes since he was 9. He was the feature writer in Write On Issue 59. After they had been matched for this project, Josiah turned up as a tutor for our senior Saturday class. Cooper is now writing poetry!
The Lost Harness was inspired by Josiah's piece, Oversight which was first published in Write On in 2012
The Lost Harness
by Cooper
Leather straps
metal clamps
lay forgotten
observing
discarded
unwanted
unbelieved
The Father
life breather
gravity
harnesser
Life in
hands thin
one snap
destroy
life is
fragile
You can read Oversight by Josiah and an interview between Cooper and Josiah here:
Thank you to Plains FM for support with the recording of the voices and to Copyright Licensing NZ for a funding grant that allowed us to archive 30 years of magazines and to develop this project.
The funding from Copyright Licensing NZ also went towards the redesign of our print magazine Write On 60: Memories and Milestones. It is a beautiful new design for our anthology. Copies are still available to order HERE
(c) Write On 2023