Book Launch - Just Looking by Peter Bland

Peter Bland, Unity Books and The Cuba Press warmly invite you to the launch of Just Looking, a collection of Peter’s poems about painting and other visual images, drawn together for his 85th birthday. To be launched by Gregory O’Brien.

About the book:
An avid collector of works of art, and long fascinated by how artists see the world, Peter Bland has drawn together poems for his 85th birthday that he’s written over the years about paintings and the visual image. Never the name-dropper or cultural snob, he lines up art by a child alongside art by Brueghel or Gauguin, and then takes the reader into the story of the painter or the painting, both shining new light and deepening the mystery.

About the author:
Peter Bland was born in Yorkshire in 1934 and emigrated to New Zealand twenty years later, for many years dividing his time between the two countries. He was associated with the Wellington group of poets which included James K Baxter and Louis Johnson, and is now a much-loved part of the Auckland poetry scene. Peter has written plays, poems, children’s books and a memoir, and is the recipient of numerous awards for his poetry including the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Excellence.