The Write Stuff - Emily Perkins and Bill Manhire

This edition of the mid 1990s TV One arts series sees host Alison Parr interviewing literary rising star Emily Perkins, then 26, while the expat author is visiting from London. Perkins talks about her time at drama school, her debut short story collection Not Her Real Name (whose Generation X life stories won international notice), and nerves about her upcoming first novel. The episode opens with poet Bill Manhire talking about book Mutes and Earthquakes, which anthologised the work and processes of his Victoria University creative writing programme. Perkins was a graduate.

That's the big question. It's interesting: no one has that problem with music, with art school, but when words get into it, people say 'woah can you teach it?'. I guess my answer would be that people learn to do it, and there are ways that various kinds of teaching can speed up the learning process.

– Bill Manhire on whether you can teach creative writing

Key Cast & Crew

Jeremy Dempsey

Composer

Alison Parr

Presenter, Associate Producer

Amanda Evans

Producer

Whetū Fala

Studio Crew

Carolyn Weston

Research

Sharyn Butters

Make-up