Book Launch: Frankie McMillan - Dressing for the Cannibals

Congratulations to local writer and Catalyst friend Frankie McMillan on the release of her first collection of poetry. Sudden Valley Press media release as follows:

Frankie McMillan: Dressing for the Cannibals

Sudden Valley Press

Frankie McMillan's first poetry collection, Dressing for the Cannibals (Sudden Valley Press), will be launched on Thursday 20 August, at 5.30 pm at the Christchurch Central Library, as part of the library's 150th celebrations.

In 2001, Frankie McMillan's short story collection The Bag Lady's Picnic (Shoal Bay Press), described as "dazzling" by the NZ Listener, received widespread critical acclaim. Now Dressing for the Cannibals—described by editor, Michael Harlow, as "full of those surprises that quicken the heart as well as the head"—promises to bring the same excitement to New Zealand poetry.

Described by the Christchurch Press's Poetry Editor, James Norcliffe, as "often surreal, faux-naif and dreamlike" the poems in Dressing for the Cannibals reflect the intriguing cover art by McMillan's daughter, NZ artist Rebecca Harris. As shown so often in her prose, McMillan has a keen, but nonetheless compassionate eye for the eccentricities of human life and nature, as well as a sly but also subversive wit.

Frankie McMillan holds a MA in Creative Writing (with Distinction) from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University. She held the Creative New Zealand Todd Bursary in 2005 and her poem, My Father’s Balance, won the NZ Poetry Society International Poetry Competition 2009; birthday boy, was runner up in the same competition in 2008. McMillan's short stories have appeared in Best New Zealand Fiction 5 and 6 (Vintage: 2008; 2009) and Essential New Zealand Short Stories (Vintage 2009) and both her poetry and short fiction have been widely published and anthologised. She is currently a creative writing tutor at Hagley Writers' Institute and the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.

In addition to the launch of Dressing for the Cannibals on Thursday 20 August, Frankie McMillan and five guest poets (Bernadette Hall, Michael Harlow, Joanna Preston, David Gregory and Ross Brighton) will read at the Christchurch Central Library, from 12.30-1.30 pm on Friday 21 August, again as part of the library's 150th celebrations.