Words have been Mark Raffill's stock-in-trade for over 30 years. Whether scribbling dispatches from the famine-stricken Horn of Africa or penning reviews of rock albums, the Nelson based poet, publisher, journalist, columnist and publicist has crafted text as though his life - and the lives of others - depended on it. But it has never just been about words on paper or text on screen.

Mark has performed his poems at concerts and festivals around the country for the past dozen years.

Raffill's ear for spoken rhythms and love of the live gig has been fueled by a parallel career as a concert and event promoter, band and night club mamaner, youth worker and former jug band musician! Such diversity provides fertile soil for a poet's musings.

So, too, do three decades of adverturous and close-nit family life. Mark lives with his wife Jeanie and varying combinations of their four children on Best Island, Richmond, near Nelson, New Zealand.

I'll be taking part as a guest reader in the Canterbury Poets Collective spring readings 2011 on Wednesday 2 November. They have a new, big, fat comfortable venue too at the CPIT Students Association (CPSA) Hall, 5 Madras Street, Christchurch. 6.30 pm. $5 at the door. See you there maybe?

The Dirt Floor Alliance – music and poems - will be out on the highway looking for adventure for a couple of weeks from 23 November. The Itinerary for 'Knocking on the door of summer tour' will be:-


Wednesday 23 November - Golden Bay - Mussel Inn

Thursday 24 November - Nelson - Yaza Cafe

Friday 25 November - Picton - Le Cafe

Saturday 26 November - Greymouth - Franks

Sunday 27 November - Wanaka - Luggate Hotel

Wednesday 30 November - Te Anau - Redcliff Cafe

Thursday 1 December - Dunedin - Chicks

Sunday 4 December - Christchruch - Chch Folk Club

Friday 2 and Saturday 3 December to be confirmed

Catch us along the way if you can, go to the Facebook page and check out the website - www.dirtflooralliance.com

Hey, competed in the Wellington heats and regional final of the NZ Poetry Slam last Wednesday night and made it through to the NZ final to be held at the Fringe Bar , corner Cuba and Vivian Street, Wellington, this Saturday 29 October, 7.30 pm. Check it out if you are about - four finalists from Wellington, four fron Christchurch and four from Auckland all having a go to represent NZ in Oz next year. All details and information at: nzpoetryslam.wordpress.com/