Honey and Bitters by Kidman, Fiona - 1975

New Zealand: Pegasus Press, 1975. Small softcover of Kidman's poetry - she was born in Hawera NZ in 1940 & worked in libraries, journalism, radio & TV & writes fulltime. Her first of eight novels was published in 1979, and she has also published four short story collections and four collections of poetry. Her work is often concerned with the effects of suburban and provincial lower middle-class life, its morals and its hypocrisies. Kidman is active in the literary community, serving as the national president of PEN from 1981 to 1983 and as the president of the New Zealand Book Council from 1992 to 1995. In 1988 she founded and ran the Fiona Kidman Creative Writing School, which is now part of Whitireia Community Polytechnic. She was the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellow for 2006 and President of Honour of the New Zealand Book Council. Her latest novel, The Captive Wife was runner-up for the Deutz Medal and won the Readers' Choice award at the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. In the 1988 New Year Honours, Kidman was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature. She was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 1998 New Year Honours for services to literature. This book is first of her poetry collections ( Honey & Bitters (1975) On the Tightrope (1977) Going to the Chathams (1985) Wakeful Nights (1993) and is signed & inscribed "For Brenda, Fiona Kidman". . Inscription and Signature of Author. 1st. Softcover. Very Good/None issued. 21.5cm.