Author(s): Iona Winter (ed)

NZ Essays | Health & Wellbeing

A loving collection of poetry, prose, essays, photography, visual art and music, from 103 New Zealand based artists, addressing their experiences of grief. As an almanac reflects seasons, planetary alignments, the night sky and tips for planting, 'a liminal gathering' creates space for connection to the natural cycles of life and death.

In a first of its kind for Aotearoa, a liminal gathering brings together the words, sounds and images of grief from 103 New Zealand artists.

Combining poetry, prose, photography, visual arts, and music from contributors ranging in age from 13 to 83, a liminal gathering is the first Grief Almanac in what will be a biennial series, among other grief related publications, by Elixir & Star Press.

The Almanac brings together work across creative disciplines by New Zealand-based artists from diverse backgrounds and includes contributions from both established names and yet to be discovered talent. Curated by writer and editor Iona Winter, a liminal gathering has been created as a taonga to be shared during times of grief.

“While we can’t all find the words or make images to express our grief, this pukapuka (book) seeks to provide some comfort and acknowledgement to those who are bereft,” says Winter. “We all grieve and for many reasons, but we often feel alone when we do.”

“In 2022 I received the CLNZ / NZSA Writers’ Award to write a non-fiction book on being suicide bereaved. While researching grief in all its complexities, I discovered we are unusual in New Zealand in our lack of a shared, creative outlet for grief.  Our local books for grieving are mostly self-help guides or psychotherapy texts.  I founded Elixir & Star Press to mend this gap, and in memory of my tama Reuben Winter who took his life in 2020.”

Elixir & Star Press was open for multidisciplinary submissions from New Zealand based artists, during April and May this year, and received well over 250 works.

“My biggest challenge was having to say no to half of them,” says Winter. “Work that ‘got me’ was included and the range of grief expressed couldn’t be broader – from the loss of parents, siblings, pets, partners and of facing impending death, to loss of identity and grief for nature.”

An almanac reflects seasons, planetary alignments, the night sky and tips for planting. a liminal gathering creates space for connection to the natural cycle of life and death.