THE WRITERS' CONFERENCE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1049, 2 October 1959, Page 11

THE WRITERS' CONFERENCE

Sir,--Your . reporter’s reference to some remarks of mine at the Writers’ Conference is entertaining, but inaccurate. I suggested, not "union shop," but something equivalent to the Fellowship of Australian Writers; because the scope of the P.E.N. is not sufficiently wide. Neither would I suggest that the purpose of New Zealand literature is to provide housewives with economic independence! A writer will write what he must, and publish it in the best way that he can, even if he receives little or nothing for his work. At the sametime, the free-lance who contributes to a profit-making publication is as worthy of his hire as the linotypist or the officeboy; but at present ke takes what he is given, often with no idea of what he should reasonably expect. Answering a previous comment to the effect that there will be time enough to deal with this when New Zealand has numerous professional writers, I contended that "professional" in literature is a matter of standards, not earnings; that we can be part-time and also professional; and that for many housewives with no other paid jcb, writing is, in fact, a profession. The conference was weighty on the practical and ‘informative side but light on the "literary" side, and I am sorry that your reporter should pass no more than a few patronising remarks on one highlight, Bruce Mason’s End of the Golden Weather. Why bring in Dickens and Emlyn Williams? The only visible connection is that they were also solo performers with the human voice in prose; and there the resemblance ends. Even when critical, we were genuinely appreciative of our host organisation, the P.E.N., and of its principal officers, whose spade work did not always show under the surface of the lawn. They were sometimes placed in unenviable situations, but even in the midst of conflict, mutual consideration and a deep sense of common purpose were evident. _

ELSIE

LOCKE

(Christchurch).