Pair publish art, literature magazine

Press, 29 July 1987, Page 23

Pair publish art, literature magazine

Peter Davidson and Martin Butts published' “Al Dente” because they believe there is a need for a magazine that carries the work of younger writers and artists. The first volume of the magazine, now on sale, has the work of 33 people in it.

Among them are writers who have had work published in other magazines.

“We wanted the less established people. Magazines like ‘Untold’ and ‘Landfall* cater for the established writers.” “Al Dente” combines the interests of both its co-editors. Peter Davidson is a part-time student in English and art theory at the University of Canterbury. Martin Butts studied at art school in Dunedin and is a full-time artist.

They sought a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant to help with the

printing of 500 copies of “Al Dente.” “But the Arts Council doesn’t give grants for publications. We have asked the New Zealand Literary Fund for some assistance with the next edition but it was too late for the first issue.”

To print 500 copies cost the two about $2OOO. They did all the typesetting for the 80-page volume themselves.

Peter Davidson intends driving from Wellington to Auckland selling the book — it costs $6.95 — on the way. He has already sold copies to Christchurch outlets in the Scorpio Bookshop, the University Bookshop, the Arts Centre Bookshop, Manawa Gallery and Galaxy Records.

He believes the range of artists, who come from Dunedin to Auckland, will help the book sell. Contributors for the first edition were found by sending information

about the first edition out through Poetry Orbital Workshops, groups of poets who exchange poems and opinions of each other’s work.

Peter Davidson belongs to a workshop and has published poetry in "Orbit,” an occasional publication of the workshop poets. “People who wanted to be involved sent stuff in to us. We have about 12 pages of artwork in the first issue. Ideally we would like more. The emphasis is on more literary work than art but for the next, edition we would like more artwork,” he said. The intention is to publish “Al Dente” as a quarterly magazine. And the title? “It came from a packet of cheese macaroni. It means firm to bite but not too hard or soft. It seemed a neat way of summing up what we wanted.”