A group of Dunedin writers have come out of the basement and into the studio to present readings of their original works on air.
OAR FM programme and podcast Basement Writers features prose and poetry from scribes who first met last year at a Literacy Aotearoa course on writing family stories.
The course was held at Literacy Aotearoa’s offices in the lower-level “basement” of the Carnegie Centre in Moray Place.
A collegial environment was quickly established, giving the group the confidence to expand their horizons, working with different styles and subjects.
Course participant Eleanor McGregor said that when the twelve-week programme concluded, the writers were keen to maintain the supportive relationships they had formed.
“The group was so wonderful. Even though the people in it were quite disparate, we got on really well together.
“We were all quite sad about the course finishing so were scratching around, looking for some other reason to keep it going.”
An article in The Star about making programmes with OAR FM sowed the seed for the next phase, and it was soon agreed that the group would take up the opportunity to broadcast and podcast each writer’s work.
Mac MacDonald, who started the Literacy Aotearoa course with the intention of fine-tuning his fiction writing skills but gravitated toward poetry at the encouragement of his colleagues, said there were a few nerves at the prospect of going public.
“That just adds a bit of spice to the experience. We all took to it like ducks to water, in our own individual ways.
“Being part of the show has been a terrific experience, one that has enhanced my life over the time I’ve been doing it.”
Basement Writers airs every second Saturday at 12.30pm on OAR 105.4FM and 1575AM, with podcasts available from oar.org.nz, Google podcasts and Apple podcasts.
Photo: Above ground: The Basement Writers group presents a programme on OAR FM Dunedin.