Brian Turner – 1984

In 'Otago Graduate' Brian Turner writes: 'Few writers are short of ideas; they are usually short of time. That is why the Burns Fellowship is so valuable.' During his tenure as Burns Fellow for 1984, Turner wrote poems that formed Bones, wrote 'Finger's Up', a play about cricket which was joint winner of the John Cowie Reid Award in 1985, started a memoir about growing up in Otago, and also a sequence of poems about the explorer Richard Henry. Here are his thoughts on the Burns, the first typescript page of scene one from 'Finger's Up', and Bones (1985), his fourth collection of poems.

Brian Turner, 'Finger's Up. A Play in Fifty Overs.' Typescript. 1985; ___, 'Otago Graduate.' Typescript. 1985; ___, Bones. Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1985. Private Collection.