13 July 2021 EVELYN ELLERMAN In this second extract from ‘Learning to Be a Writer in Papua New Guinea’, Evelyn Ellerman writes of the emergence of student writers at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1967, which led to the development of a home-grown Papua New Guinean literature. Her paper was part of theContinue reading “Writing in PNG: Kovave & beyond”
Category Archives: Literature
How PNG’s first literary blossoming arrived
12 July 2021 EVELYN ELLERMAN In this extract from ‘Learning to Be a Writer in Papua New Guinea’, Evelyn Ellerman writes of the establishment of the Literature Department at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1967, which led directly to the development of the first shoots of a home-grown Papua New Guinean literature. HerContinue reading “How PNG’s first literary blossoming arrived”
A brief history of PNG literature, Part 2
12 July 2021 PHILIP FITZPATRICK TUMBY BAY – It wasn’t until 1977 that a Papua New Guinean novel appeared that was targeted at Papua New Guinean readers, Russell Soaba’s Wanpis. Wanpis (Tok Pisin for a person who is lonely or alone, like an orphan) is about identity and displays an angst that is quintessentially Papua New Guinean. SomeContinue reading “A brief history of PNG literature, Part 2”
A brief history of PNG literature, Part 1
Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG Attitude, 11 July 2021 PHILIP FITZPATRICK TUMBY BAY – Papua New Guinea has a rich tradition of oral literature which exists to this day. Vincent Eri’s work of 1970, The Crocodile, was the first novel by a Papua New Guinean, but it seems likely that the first book written by a PapuaContinue reading “A brief history of PNG literature, Part 1”
Our young poets are ‘the hopes that we bear in spite’
MICHAEL DOM “Remote models require assimilation. You can learn from the past with little risk of merely aping it as you might ape your contemporaries, or the generation just before your own. A young poet impatient with the assumptions and styles of the present might look for springboards and encouragements in another time.” Robert PinskyContinue reading “Our young poets are ‘the hopes that we bear in spite’”
And justice for Jenelyn
MICHAEL DOM Jenelyn Kennedy, born March 18 2001 tortured by her husband from 18 to 23 June 2020, died of head injuries and bruised internal organs caused by blunt force trauma. This is a poem I did not want to share but I am doing so because Jenelyn’s story haunts me. She is the sameContinue reading “And justice for Jenelyn”
In that Paradise
By Fiada Kede First place World Environment Day Poetry My name is Fiada Kede. I’m from Eastern Highlands Province currently residing in Port Moresby. I love reading poems. What I love about poems is the way the ordinary things are expressed in an extraordinary way. When I read poems, it gives me a new senseContinue reading “In that Paradise”
What is happening to Mother Nature?
By Kesia Erick Third place World Environment Day Poetry My name is Kesia Erick and I come from Hube LLG (Pindiu) in Finschaffen District of Morobe Province. I am 21 year old studying Language and literature at the University of Goroka, and I tend to love writing poems, short stories as well as reading books.Continue reading “What is happening to Mother Nature?”
Porugl: Son of the Underworld
Book Review Phil Fitzpatrick Porugl: Son of the Underworld by Kamnguru Nem, Independently published, 183 pages, ISBN: 9798520442332. Available from Amazon Australia, ebook $25.94, paperback $42.83. A gigl ambu is a female spirit who lives in the underworld and travels into the outerworld, where humans live, to secretly forage for food at night. The underworldContinue reading “Porugl: Son of the Underworld”
The Change by Austin Nasio
Second place World Environment Day Poetry My name is Austin Nasio and I turned 19 this year. I am from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville but I grew up in Lae and am doing my first year at UPNG. I am taking Population Studies. I passed out from Busu Secondary School in Lae. It isContinue reading “The Change by Austin Nasio”
Ples Singsing - A PNG Writer's Blog 