Carcanet Press Poetry Publisher

BILL MANHIRE was born in Invercargill in 1946. He was his country's inaugural Poet Laureate and has won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry four times. He holds a personal chair at the Victoria University of Wellington, where he directs the celebrated creative writing programme and the International Institute of Modern Letters. His volume of short fiction South Pacific was published by Carcanet in 1994.

"A poet of considerable subtlety and strength, a 'dangerous writer'..."

Book of the week
Turning the pages of 'Lifted', no reader can fail to be surprised and delighted by the variety of voices and tones... Manhire shows not only his mature formal skills but his ability to look unflinchingly into the heart of things. He is a poet in which a sly sense of humour is coupled with a respect for whatever truths a poem can wring out of experience. ...Manhire’s poems make us feel as if we are really there. - Billy Collins, Dominion Post

Named one of The NZ HERALD'S 'Books of the Year'
Manhire is in darkly brilliant form in this death-haunted but scintillating collection. - Peter Simpson, New Zealand Herald

Named as one of The Listener's 'New Zealand's Best Books 2005'
Manhire risks accusations of sentimentality and produces a triumph. This is richly human work, which acknowledges its – and our – limitations and keeps reaching for the high windows, regardless. - Hugh Roberts, NZ Listener

The biggest noise in New Zealand poetry is Bill Manhire... Manhire has always known how to look at the human condition and state it simply through his poems. 'Lifted' is confident and emotive in what it tries to achieve. ...'Lifted' is shining stuff from truly one of our best poets. Definitely check this one out. - Hamesh Wyatt, Otago Daily Times

Manhire changes tack in every poem, coming at us with different techniques and different personae. It's a marvellously varied performance...Lifted is a short book, but few readers will be able to take it all in at a single sitting. It demands -and rewards- re-reading. - Iain Sharp, Sunday Star Times

An event to be celebrated . . . a powerful collection. - Tom Weston, The Press

He has matured sturdily, and grown to an impressive height, and put down roots so tenacious in their grip on the world that it’ll take the devil of a wind to topple him. - Michael Hulse, New Zealand Books

I love this latest collection of poems. . . They are hauntingly beautiful. - Alexandrina Ellis, Salient