13 Feb 2022

Two new names on Dunedin's Writers' Walk

From Standing Room Only, 1:32 pm on 13 February 2022

Getting your name on a plaque on the Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Writers' Walk is a huge deal, and also very competitive given how many writers Ōtepoti has produced.

The latest two writers to be honoured are poet Peter Olds and the late O.E - or Ted - Middleton, who was an award- winning short story writer.

Their brass plaques will be found at the foot of the city's landmark Robert Burns statue in the Octagon, after being unveiled this Friday.

Both writers were Robert Burns Fellows at the University of Otago in the 1970s, and but while the city was already home to Peter, Ted came from out of town and stayed on. He died in 2010.

Lynn Freeman speaks to Roger Hickin who is Peter Olds' long-time friend and publisher, and to Ted Middleton's widow, poet Cynthia Greensill.

Here is Peter Olds reading one of his poems.