Guide to the Janet Frame Papers, 1925-1990 (bulk 1969-1989)

APS: To Bill from "Management of Peedauntals."

Farewell in Boston after visit to MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire.

About other guests of the MacDowell Colony.

Describes house in Baltimore, remembers last day at MacDowell (mentions Jo, Elnora, Sylvie, and Colebrook).

Risqué limericks.

Limericks about a tailor in Boston.

Has just written to May Sarton. Misses MacDowell. Describes light in Dunedin [New Zealand]. Sends "Beginnings," a series from the NZ Quarterly from 5 years ago. (Landfall 19.1 (1965): 40-47.)

Cutouts from magazines for facetious advertising campaign. Discusses paintings and future trip to New York to visit Elnora and then stay at Yaddo [artists' community] on Jan. 5. Wishes for brief trip to California to visit them.

Two days after return from California.

Still on Pacific time, looking forward to Yaddo.

John Money getting ready to travel over Christmas. Has received "Yaddo information." Trip to California was nice. Still on Pacific time.

Discusses their paintings. Alone in the house for Christmas. Going to stay with Elnora in New York before going to Yaddo. Faces in the Water "toned down." Includes proof of "Winter Garden" to be published in the New Yorker. ("Winter Garden" New Yorker 31.1 (1970): 37-39.)

ALS: Received canvas from Bill. Describes Elnora's apartment and New Year's meal. Publisher (Braziller) gave her Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Asks if Bill wants Pocket Mirror. To receive galleys of her book next week. Yaddo beckons.

APS: Written in haste. Phones scary.

Describes room and other guests at Yaddo, one a "raving old man." Details end of stay in NY.

Dislikes the formality of dinnertime; lacks courage to speak. Poetry.

Poem. Sending a few (random) pages of proofs from Intensive Care, with notes on page 35. Preparing dedication for Intensive Care; wants to dedicate to Sue Marquand and Bill.

Describes meals at Yaddo. Opinions on F. Bacon painting and Rilke poems. Unhappy at Yaddo. Sent Pocket Mirror. Will send Adaptable Man. Alan Lelchuk fond of Snowman, Snowman. Elnora finishing her [Elnora's] book.

New book to be called Headache or a Longing for Acromegaly. Discusses Yaddo staff. Snow melted.

Several inches of snow. Just written poem called "The Dead." "Small family" of Yaddo. Wants to leave early and go to see Elnora and Jo in NY.

ALS: Discusses dedication. Her muse is half Pluto and half "some God of Light." Includes her verses about Santa Barbara. Yaddo "feeds luxuriously." Dan Curley arriving tomorrow. Sprained her wrist last night. New novel "remains out of reach."

Using Yaddo typewriter with sprained wrist as hers is being repaired. Glad Bill approves of dedication. Writes about fellow Yaddo guests' limericks. Bill received Pocket Mirror. Jo wants her to stay with her in South Hadden and Elnora wants her to come to NY. Wishes to return to Santa Barbara.

ALS: Dan Curley arrived. Ned Rorem to entertain; formality of Yaddo. "Forced to play charades" tomorrow evening. Talks to Burke, age 75, often. To receive $3500 in advance royalties. NZ Arts Conference in April; sends suggestions. Quiet when not using typewriter.

New director at Yaddo. "Winter Garden" appeared in New Yorker last week; director now sweet to her. New arrivals to Yaddo. Arranged to see Jo and Elnora. Sent poems to publisher; showed them to Burke. Includes drawn layout of her house in MD. Has sent spare Adaptable Man and Scented Garden for the Blind separately.

Leaving Feb. 11 to go visit Elnora and Jo in NY. Stuffy literary people. Hicks lectured her on sending piece to New Yorker. Making visit to Baltimore for medical check-up then back to Elnora's apartment. Wants to fly West in early March. Collage"President Nixon and the exacting demands of sex."

"Unrestrained letter." Poem: "O' Western Bee."

Kenneth Burke reading. Received touching letter from fan. Will have to "live by correspondence" when returns to New Zealand; Dunedin beautiful. Poet friend and Landfall editor friend. Editor friend welcomed her to city when she was Burns Fellow. May also visit aunt's niece. There's R. who used to live with C. Former landlady. Has to be in Baltimore by 23 February.

TPS: Poem.

Last letter from Yaddo. Composer Douglas Allenbrooke arrived. Kenneth Burke turmoil. Anxious to leave Yaddo. Liquor good lately. Collage. Harry Dent, White House handyman and free trial member.

Loved Bill's letter with illustration of angel descending upon the meal table. Pleasant to be out of Yaddo. Had dinner with the Kazins (Alfred and Ann).

Met Mark and Jo in Springfield, MA. Loved Bill's Valentine card. Booked trip to Santa Barbara for March 2.

John Money too serious. Last couple days in New York frantic. Found Rilke poems. George Braziller will publish her book of poems next year.

Will fly to L.A. on Saturday. Elnora will finish writing her book by the weekend. Glad Bill liked Adaptable Man. Excited to fly west.

APS: Swallowed by carnivorous plant.

APS: To Ned (Bill and Paul's cat); wonders when he will come visit her.

ALS: Music in NZ. Went to "Earth, Sky" last night. Impatient to get home to Dunedin. Life at sister's hectic. Visited Frank Sargeson's for dinner. Sargeson showed her proof of new Landfall with his picture on it (Landfall 24.1 (1970)) and talked about what he wanted done with his things upon his death. Some of his letters just sold to a museum for $500. She a beneficiary.

ALS: Staying in John's [Baxter] room; full of painting supplies; has meditation corner. Knows little Maori.

Sister at college, nephew at University, other nephew at work, brother- in-law at work, niece at school. Flight from CA rough. Asks if they have received her book yet.

APS: "Greeting, love, and kisses."

Back home, alone in a storm. Lonely. Tenants left house in good condition. Is including collage of Prince Charlie and his mother [not included].

Her book hasn't arrived yet. Glad Ned liked postcard. Wants to learn more about music; mother sold music door-to-door during the Depression. Will frame Bill's painting.

Domestic chores. Bee Supplies building. Bill's painting to be framed. Will give radio interview on "Artists' Colonies in America." Cold and wet. Recipes. Newspaper clippings. Birthday letter.

Windy. Received fan letter from man in CA who was reading Owls Do Cry. Intensive Care should arrive soon. Bought book of poor Rilke translations. New Zealand Broadcasting Company to set some poems from Pocket Mirror to music.

Lonely. Hung Bill's painting on wall. "Triple-pricked" Granville Hicks wrote review of Intensive Carefor a Chicago paper. Natural luxuries of NZ. Record player sounds nice; paid for with money from Pocket Mirror Award. Sent tape of thirteen stories from The Lagoon; will try to record Swans.

Wishes studio was not in her house; clutter. Frank Sargeson selling papers to the National Library. Thinking of selling hers to the local University Hocken Library. Frank selling her letter to him; swears to split the proceeds. Book [Intensive Care] arrived. Braziller in Europe so often she communicates with Ed Seaver, chief editor. Dedication. Owes May Sarton a letter. Wrote to Jo and Elnora.

Book arrived. Adjusting to weather. New book should be finished by September.

ALS: Cold weather.

Tape arrived. Swan commentary from Plato (Phaedo). Bill's painting. Barren social life. Having house painted and hole in wall fixed. Quote from Bhagavad Gita.

House painter still there. Reading [Joseph] Conrad. Letters from Jo and Elnora. Black cat moved into empty house across street. Red butterfly. Page of newspaper clippings: "A New Zealander Divulges Secrets."

Title of new novel. Reading Conrad. Lonely. Tape just arrived.

Lot of herself put into Intensive Care. House painter still there; talks of sailor life and pet monkey. Will record Swans next Monday. Visited an aunt. To visit Charles B[rasch].

Went to dinner and theater with Charles B[rasch]. Visited aunt. Plays tape of poems/interview daily. "Peedauntal Report."

Nicest visitor: gray and white kitten. Poetry.

Received The Requiem and Schubert and Schumann recording. Depressed over Cambodian affair. Friend Dorothy visited. Drew comic strip.

Reviews of book. Maid. Poems.

Nasty review of book in New York Sunday Times. Giving manuscripts to Hocken Library on long-tem loan. Kenneth Burke wrote lovely note about book. Recipe and newspaper clippings.

"Smarting" from NYT review. Spent last evening at Charles B[rasch]'s. Icelandic and Canadian scholars there. Walked to warehouse of old furniture; realized furniture was her aunt's [house being demolished to make way for the University]. [missing page?]

Trying to finish tape. Walked to Northern Cemetery, past waterfront and factories. Two pages of clippings and commentaries.

House painter not done yet. Feels low about Cambodian move. Auckland students burned an effigy of President Nixon outside the US Embassy. Visited Charles B[rasch]. Cartoon strip: "Kiddies' Page."

Vergers arrived. Went to dinner with sister. Visit from outdoorsy writer. Played records. Looking through published manuscripts to loan to University Library. House painter still there. Photo of angels nice. Cartoon strip: "Kiddies Page."

House painter finally finished. Reminds her of a character in the third part of Intensive Care. Hard having Intensive Care published; "brings it all back."

Visited "old aunt." Answering questions radio interviewer will ask. Believes bad reviews and "incredulous about the good ones." Charles B[rasch] coming to take tea.

Received Time review. Moved studio to new room.

Finished recording tape; will post it Tuesday. Begun new work. Radio interview on Tuesday morning. Still hasnt gotten piano. Picture of layout of her house.

ALS: Headline from Australian newspaper.

ALS: Written from perspective of "carnivorous plant." Collage of newspaper clippings.

ALS: Old diary entry. Poem for Ned.

First page written from perspective of Bill's sweater. Baking. Elnora's book. Owls Do Cry not autobiographical. Wants to go to Istvan Nadas concert. Battered copies of Intensive Care arrived.

ALS: Paul's party."Crazy note" from Frank S[argeson]. U.S. universities buying his grocery lists.

Bill's father. Istvan Nadas concert booked. Visited aunt. Newspaper clippings.

Went on a walk. Wrote to May Sarton and Jo. Pau's party. Recipe for banana coffee cake. Collage: "The pure people."

Children's page in newspaper. Debussy titles. Tape not reached them. Visited aunt. Page five letter to "Carney" from J[anet] and letter to J[anet] from Carney.

Publisher sent horrible review and nice review. Radio interview. Newspaper clip: "Narrow Escape."

"Silly tape" received. Isolation and stimulation. Recent art show. Sent grocery list of F[rank] Sargeson; should return or send to U.S.? Sent confession of love from acquaintance. Reading Yeats.

Loneliness. "Garden News." Nervous in plant shop. Going to Charles B[rasch]'s for dinner and to hear the Opera Company's The Impresario and Il Pagliacci. Letter from elderly woman in England. Visit from young French woman writing thesis on her, "J.F."

APS: Poem for Paul.

Letter to Paul: Is timid; prospect of teaching scares. Would rather be a student. Was called "The Corner Woman" when she sat in the corner and would not join in conversations.

Letter to Bill: Poem. Mozart Requiem and thoughts on death. Saw "young French lecturer." Sunday lunch.

"Nice crazy letter from the Editor of the Student newspaper." Poet's wife [Jacquie Baxter] coming to stay at the end of the week. Maori. [written on verso of letter sent to her from critic]

Free lunch hour recital at University of Otago. Looking forward to getting away. Loved Bill's painting. Asks for a word on Paul's job. [written on verso of lunch hour recital at U of Otago]

APS: Invitation to painting exhibition.

New Zealand Broadcasting Company's Orchestra in town. Went with Charles B[rasch] and Burns Fellow, then again with Charles B[rasch] and Frances Hodgkin's Fellow. Newspaper clippings. Receiving letters from people after her radio interview.

Guest, Jacquie [Baxter], asleep. Dying aunt. Asks if Jo has arrived in CA.

Visited aunt. Faces in the Water. Shopping.

ALS: Jacquie [Baxter] leaves Friday. Charles B[rasch] coming for tea. Charles Neider coming to NZ in November. Guest [Jacquie] pleasant, but looking forward to her going. To finish book by end of year.

Visited aunt. Guest [Jacquie Baxter] gone. Newspaper collage. Imaginary telephone call to Bill, Paul, and Ned.

"Bothered by students quite a lot." "Rude page" University student to come chat. Meditation. Moved into guest room. Newspaper clipping:"That is Anarchy, Mr. Baxter."

Ursula Bethell and D'Arcy Cresswell. Friend's son. Recipe for Pavlova cake. Work going well.

Moved furniture. Drawing of house. Received letter in German; cannot read it. Poem. Enclosed photograph of her nephew, Neil.

Endearing old aunt. Translating German letter. Feline visitor. Visit from Jim [Baxter], Jacquie's husband.

Brasch "nice gentlemanly type." Carnie.

ALS: "A. Carnivorous Plant."

ALS: Cartoon strip: "Carnie Comes Into His Own or Time Wears Away." Flu improving. Jacquie [Baxter] staying with her to attend the funeral of Jim [Baxter]'s father.

ALS: Flu almost departed. Death of aunt Hannah Florence. Jacquie [Baxter] and family left. Would like to write childrens' stories to make money to fly to U.S.; Mona Minim not lucrative. Pressed flower petal/leaf. Listened to records. Newspaper collage on verso of last page.

Out of bed; flu left "infantilely week-kneed." Tired of death. Maori language records from Jacquie [Baxter]. Newspaper clipping collage: "Laughs for Ned."

Trying to get book done. Council tearing up Evans Street. Fiesta Parade. Hasn't seen anyone since the doctor that Jacquie [Baxter] called over on the day she left. Paul's cap. Drawing of "Frederica" for Ned. Letter to Paul from the cap she knitted for him.

Letter from new kitten Lucas.

Seven week-old kitten Lucas Burch. Flu gone. Charles B[rasch] visited. Newspaper clipping collages.

Cap arrived for Paul. Cost of living in NZ. Lucas Burch settling down nicely. Idea of getting an advance for a book not yet written appalling. Her birthday today. Friend in New York invited her to live in U.S. Limericks.

Received letter from New York Times inviting her to send in a poem for the editorial page; wishes she had confidence. Work is slow. Frank S[argeson]s garden. Macmillan offered to publish Intensive Care, declined out of loyalty (habit) to old firm. May have to go into hospital for operation.

Fair morning's work; "Characters only seem to become alive with me only when they're about to die." Mail strike starts 7 September. Poem. Newspaper "complete the sentences" clippings.

Received records. Has to go into hospital overnight for a test. Lucas's company refreshing. Work as usual.

Bus strike. Newspaper clippings. Dinner at Charles Brasch's place with Burns Fellow Ted Middleton. Applications to live in the U.S. Does not belong in human society. Written note: "You and your entire household have been selected to receive an all cotton seed pearl below knee panty."

"Capital City gives party for Cats." Rain. Lucas. Newspaper clippings collage: "Pixie page."

Letter written as from Lucas to Ned and his "two dear big cats" Play made of State of Siege; invited "Jay" to hear it read: "Hell No." Letter from Charles Neider at MacDowell. Mail strike settled.

Letter from State Department yesterday. Went to State of Siege play; very well adopted; revealed so many of the book's faults. Received nice letter from Jo. Includes humorous letter to J. J. Smith at the Immigration Dept. in Washington with newspaper collage.

Letter written from Lucas. Poet friend of "Jay's" visited. Going into the hospital overnight. Newspaper clipping collage: "Lucas Guilty of Murder."

Poem. Lucas to Dr. Aberdeen's. Going to hospital tonight for tests.

ALS: Spent couple of nights in hospital. "Rude health." Fire in California.

Portion of letter written to Steinway [piano]. Young woman visitor: recovering from death of child; novel being made into a movie. Enclosed picture of mantelpiece.

Young French lecturer to return. Invitation to dinner with Wanda and David Hall. Planning to visit next February. Offered NY apartment from Sue Marquand.

Letter written to Ned from Lucas.

Poem to Paul about his painting. Bill in East.

Received Paul's watercolor. Flying out to them 12 February. Sending new tape with Dominique Sion reading Rilke. Went to dinner with Dorothy and Robert Ballantyne last evening. "Nonverbal creature." Waiting to hear from U.S. Embassy; did not mention "stay in that kind of hospital." "Intensive Care aftermath."

U.S. fires. Letter from Jo. Newspaper clippings collages.

State of Siege being performed in November. Must say goodbye to Lucas this week, before he gets too old to re-adapt. Sent tape yesterday. Bus strike.

ALS: Letter written to Ned from Lucas. Lucas leaving house in three days; to be birthday present for little boy on Halloween.

ALS: Bill's show. Bus strike continues. Going to rent house. Newspaper clippings.

Lucas. Bus strike finished. Newspaper clippings collage.

Grieving Lucas. Trying to write two books at once.

Travel plans. Missing Lucas Burch. Letter from Elnora.

ALS: Lucas. Dominique wrote thesis: "New Zealand in Owls Do Cry" "not particularly original but it is painstakingly illuminating." Has sublet house. Will stay overnight with Jacquie [Baxter]. Jacquie's son. Paul not teaching.

Flying north [Auckland] on 4 December. Visited former landlady (from when Frame was a Burn's Fellow). "Phoned Lucas' new servants." Dramatization of State of Siege performed this week. Sister graduating from college 16 December.

To call on Frank [Sargeson] and Harry [Doyle] in Auckland. Went to dress rehearsal of State of Siege.

Director of Broadcasting and TV flying to Wellington to see production of State of Siege; pressure on her to go. "Too plain scared and alone." Moving note from George Braziller; Marsha dead.

ALS: "Nixon/Eisenhower blockage." Charles B[rasch] stopped by. Tenants "nice kids."

ALS: At Jacquie [Baxter]'s. Flight.

ALS: On visa. Lost purse. Dinner with Frank [Sargeson] and Harry [Doyle]. May [Sarton]'s poems.

Sister's graduation. "Recovering from Dunedin." Misses Lucas. Telephone exchange with Air New Zealand and Vice-Consul.

Brother-in-law to hospital. U.S. State Department approved Labor Certificate.

ALS: Letter to Ned about what to get "servants" for Christmas.

Brother-in-law out of hospital. To stay with Jacquie [Baxter] in Wellington on 4 January. Went to dinner at Frank S[argeson]'s. "I hope the angel visits your table at Christmas and that you are never alarmed."

O. E. Middleton. Newspaper clippings collage.

ALS: Preparing for travel. Poem.

Clipping collage ("Nervous Headache").

ALS: Note from Jo. Tomorrow heading to Wellington to stay with Jacquie Baxter for about a week. Ants.

ALS: Kissed in street by an elderly man who liked her books. Bill's opening. Cartoon drawing.

ALS: Returning from Wellington. Nasty letter from NZ publisher. Jim Baxter. Visited aunts. Letter from housemaid at Yaddo. [Alan] Lelchuk and [Philip] Roth at Yaddo.

Pleasant flight. Staying at "Nanny's little apartment in 30th Street." To take apartment on East 74th Street; Sue [Marquand] to pay her rent.

Letter as written by Carnie. New York.

Neighbors. Visited the Poindexters.

Move. Neighbors. Poems. Joined NY Public Library.

Work went very satisfactorily today. Lunch with George Braziller. Lunch with Sue [Marquand]. Newspaper clipping of the Prime Minister of NZ and President Nixon.

Lunch with Sue [Marquand]. Paul leaving University. Neighbors. Newspaper clipping collage "President's View of His Wife."

Phone call. Charles Brasch sent financial details to Minister of Internal Affairs. Went to Carnegie Hall with George Braziller, Norman Rosten, and Norman Rosten's daughter's boyfriend. Faces in the Water in paperback. Phoned Elnora.

Life in NY. Sue to hospital next week. Saw George Braziller for lunch.

Neighbors. Letter from [Eu]Gene and Polly Anderson. Broken telephone. Dinner at Ed and Elaine Seaver's (Braziller's chief editor).

Bill's birthday; sent small parcel. Invited to Darryl Croxton's birthday party. Noises. Sue [Marquand] had exploratory surgery. Work going slowly and badly. Has small TV set.

Visits to Sue [Marquand] in hospital. Dinner with the Seavers. New directors of Yaddo. Bill's phone call.

Sue [Marquand] in hospital. Carnie.

Phone bill. Noisy neighbors. Sue [Marquand] at home; "laden with medicines to combat an unknown disease."

Alice Baber show. Was "accosted by a well-dressed, rather handsome man who stood so that she [Janet] was unable to escape from him. He demanded money." She refused and he smiled and walked away. [Fiction?] Sue [Marquand] very ill. Dinner with Braziller's editor. Bill and Paul canceled visit to NY.

Dinner party at the Seavers. [missing first page]

Headache prevented work. Went to dinner at Darryl Croxton's; refused to go to his birthday party. Played roulette at Marquand's; Sue much better but has "transparent sick appearance."

Letter from Carnie; adventures in Germany.

Music. Leaving New York 30 or 31 May; moving into summer camp 15 June.

In Baltimore; Spill and Spell Game. Poem.

Letter from John Money's Steinway. Risqué poems.

Jo phoned from Yaddo. Heartbroken that Bill is coming to New York when she will not be there; possible plans. Sue [Marquand]'s illness. Sue paid $3000 into her [Janet's] bank account. Hates thought of having to go back to NZ. Bus ride from Baltimore to New York.

Mailing two copies of Faces in the Water. Spent past Saturday and Sunday at John Money's in Baltimore. Letter from the Andersons. Letter from niece. Question about her on the University Entrance exam. Braziller's editor gave her novel to read for comment. Drawing of apartment layout.

Sue [Marquand] feeling much better; taken island in the Bahamas for Christmas. Quote from President Nixon.

Asking landlady to be released from her lease; to stay in Marquand's apartment on 15 June until September. Poem.

Asked to be released from lease; paid extra month's rent. Leaving 27 May, going down to Baltimore until 15 June, when going to Marquand's in New York. "Written 74,000 words of trash." Note from Jo.

Letter from Carnie. Newspaper clipping collages. Neighbors. Book hard to write. Lunch with Sue [Marquand].

Grimness. Moving and belongings. John Money. Sue [Marquand]'s possible exhibition in London.

New York observations from Carnie.

Letter to Paul from Carnie 2 [a paper doll].

Bill's troubling news. Bill's visit to Baltimore. John Money's psychologist friend staying in house with her. Going to Baltimore Museum. Character in book named "Lucas." Playing Spill and Spell. Death of her parents. Poems.

Asks for news of Bill's parents Reading The Heart of Darkness. Typewriter shift key collapsed. Handwritten note from Carnie. Newspaper clippings.

Bill home. Death of Bill's mother. Death of her mother.

Getting to work. Sue [Marquand] back in "chiefly psychiatric" hospital; should be "O.K. in a few weeks." Reading Rilke and Donne.

Poems. Sue [Marquand] out of hospital Friday; going to country with [husband] James. Work-table. Letting publisher and former agent know where she is. Newspaper clipping and commentary.

Letter to 77-year-old friend in England; old friend of Frank S[argeson]. Sue [Marquand] out of hospital; to Martha's Vineyard June 29. Invited to go, but "neurotically scared" of small private plane. Long poem.

ALS: Monday "News Flash": ear scooping poem.

Extended visa. Sue [Marquand] to Martha's Vineyard. Bill's father needing him.

ALS: Bill's happenings. "Kiddies Holiday Reading" [4th of July].

Death of Bill's father.

Man sharing other half of apartment. She wants to leave. "Shy about making plans to visit [Bill] and Paul." Story of the Tonkins. Poem.

Heat. Writing novel.

Phone call. Going to Baltimore on Thursday. Would like to visit themotherwise will go to London.

Long poem. Met director of Yaddo. Thinking of going in the fall or winter. Has N.Y. apartment until early September; John Money offered his place while he is in Australia.

ALS: To "Professor Prosper Sillyass." Play "Sill-Titted by Moonlight."

ALS: Going to Baltimore tomorrow. Went to Shakespeare-in-the-Park. Dinner at George Braziller's apartment. Small anniversary party for Norman Rosten and his wife. Hoping to go to California.

Phone call. Bill feeling better. Set up quarters in the basement. May be able to finish book soon. John Money away. Strange meeting in N.Y. with detective writer.

Poem to Paul about Bill's return.

ALS: Hopes things are better for Bill; "ordinary living is exhausting enough." May S[arton] moving.

ALS: Moved to maid's room. John Money's friend sharing house. John Money returned. Playing Spill and Spell. Making care parcel.

John Money away overnight. Back in basement.

In basement with cockroaches. Decided to diet. "Confidence is at a low ebb." Coming to California 16 or 17 August. Drawings.

Cockroach-shock. Phoned Sue [Marquand] in New York. Wants to go to CA or 17 August, but could come week earlier.

Cockroaches. Looking forward to seeing them again. Asks if Monday 16 August is okay?

Poem. Traveling details.

Returned from New York. Sue [Marquand] moved out; living with man she will marry. Sue renting island for two weeks in December; John Money to rent it afterwards. Saw Death in Venice.

Yaddo visit "welcome piece of sudden fortune." Phone call and letter from Jo.

Work "coasting." Sue [Marquand] in hospital again. Taking piano lessons from composer at Yaddo. Friend of Jo's: Margaret Stark.

Thinking of applying to MacDowell. Completely rewriting novel. Collage.

Finishing novel in five days; will deliver to publisher second week of December. Hopes to see Paul's show in New York. Flying to Bahamas 16/17 December. Curtis Harnack good Director. First snow of the season.

Closing stages of novel. Piano lessons. May Sarton's poem "Homage to Kali" in the Poetry Magazine. Young people discovering Rilke. Heavenly desserts. [incomplete]

Piano lessons. Finished first draft of novel. NZ government granted annuity of $1,000. Bathroom dialogue with poet Edward.

Wrapped up in work. Decided not to go to the Bahamas or MacDowell. Leaving 10 December for Baltimore, to spend Christmas alone at John Money's. Returning to NZ early February.

Going to New York to see Paul's show. Leaving the U.S. on 5 January. Thanksgiving wonderful; snowed all day. Sleeping in studio. Retyping novel. Offered extended stay at Yaddo. Piano lesson from new composer.

ALS: Hopes to finish final retyping of novel. Weather unseasonably warm. [missing pages]

Finished retyping novel. Other novelist Elaine Graf. Agent Carl Brandt. Shall go to Baltimore on the 22 or 23.

Titling book Daughter Buffalo. Sad about leaving Yaddo. Depressed.

Last days at Yaddo. Scholarship at MacDowell. Other Yaddo guests.

Home Thursday; turbulent trip. Likes Dunedin better than Auckland. Review of Intensive Care in paper: "a tirade against the permissive society and its loose sexual morals." Frank [Sargeson] well; Harry [Doyle] died. Wishes for a visit. Vivid letter from Yaddo guest. [on crocodile card from Baltimore art gallery]

Americans "buying up" Dunedin. Went to Art Gallery. Never written a book in this house. Ordered one of Lucas's brothers. Piano arrived.

Bill and Paul's flu. Taking a correspondence course at the University. Just "waiting for the end."

Noise. Jo's novel. Buddhist friend Ruth "infuriatingly tranquil." Charles B[rasch] out of town. Comedy pieces on BBC. NZ government changed its Cabinet.

Can't afford to move. Having downstairs room lined. Annuity to "materialize" April 1; first time in life to have regular income. Tea with former landlady. Tea with Charles B[rasch].

Spends hours at the piano. First paper on music theory "came back covered with red pencil marks." Charles B[rasch] for tea. Important to know whether she will see Bill/Paul again.

Bill and Paul to leave CA. Moved study into every room.

Their birthdays. Hired TV to see sister's husband act. Decided to move. [on crocodile card from Baltimore art gallery]

Lucas's mom having kittens over Easter. Downstairs studio. Received first installment of annuity. Charles Brasch off to England; starting small publishing company in Dunedin. Dinner at Ted Middleton's. Preliminary poem for "the birthdays of Bill and Paul." Sending parcel.

Poems: "For Paul on his birthday" and "For Bill on his birthday."

Bill and Paul to Italy. Little room downstairs almost finished. Making "little Yaddo." Enjoying music theory. Enclosing clip of editorial from Otago Daily Times; her letter signed "Tourist." Against the law to say "bullshit" in NZ. [stationary from Friendship Inns of America]

ALS: Godfather. Dunedin noisy. Beethoven. Frank [Sargeson]'s autobiography, Once is Enough, published soon. Carnie.

ALS: Passage of house. Easter. Hiding away in studio.

Frank Sargeson's birthday. Planning on moving. Jacquie Baxter to come visit; will help look for houses. "Interim" Lucas three weeks old. Tape recorder. Phone call from Sue [Marquand] in New York. Bill and Paul's Italian journey. Downstairs room being made soundproof.

ALS: Fred's [Bill and Paul's cat] disappearance. Birthdays over. "Does Italy loom?" Italian Journey, book about experiences of a man who helped her. Carnie's marriage. House will sell for $4,200; new house will be $8-10,000. Marvelous to be alone again. Theory papers getting difficult. George Braziller put out book of poems by Chester Kallman. Will get Kitty in about three weeks.

ALS: Asks for news of Fred. "Land agent" came to look at house. Visit to see lawyer, Mr. Quelch. Jacquie Baxter's stay pleasant. Found booklet about family in Dunedin library. Compiling tape.

Desk back upstairs. Thoughts on new place. Collages.

Bill and Paul to Italy. Hailstorm. No more work; packing. Nephew and wife had baby.

APS: Wishes them a happy visit to Italy. From Carnie.

Letter to Ned from "Kitty." Doesn't yet have a name.

Kitty--Neggy--likes piano. Buying place up north for $7,000 NZ. Decided in a hurry; sold the house on Friday. Leaving 14 July, flying to Auckland, and being driven to new "place by the sea" by brother-in-law the next day. Costly to move books and furniture; lawyers costs reasonable. Tape broke.

Bill and Paul home. Kitty called "Neg," short for Negative.

Paul and Bill moving. Paul sent check; will be "half-owners" of house. Bill's show successful. New address. Moving 11 July, will move into new house by the fifteenth.

Postcards from Italy. Moving 10 July, staying with sister, moving to new place that weekend. Asks for $3000 US. Sending photograph [not included].

"Noble" of Bill to write letter from New York. Regrets she can't take plants from garden with her. Will plant big sub-tropical flowers.

Satisfying review of Bill's San Francisco show. Moving plans. Paul's check wonderful help. Neggy growing fast. Invitation to a conference in Australia in October; "not that kind of person."

Check for $1300 from Bill and Paul for plumbing. Good and bad reviews from past (The Lagoon). New home. Thirty whales came ashore. Wrote to May Sarton. Note from young actor in New York. Doesn't know when new book coming out. Advance comments are "good"; translated to "pretty bad."

ALS: First 3 pages written from Neggy. In motel. Flying today; took Neggy to vet. Relaxing to have an animal.

ALS: Doesn't know new address. Quiet is nice.

New address [from W- Peninsula]. New house; view. Neighbor.

Mail. Set up studio. Hobb's farm and Shakespeare's farm. No plumbing yet. Two spare rooms. Piano foot went through terrace floor. Frank Sargeson coming to visit. "Only interested now in people who work in the arts and are outside the mainstream of living."

Written from Carnie.

Written from Carnie. Book to be published on her birthday (28 August). Wasn't given proofs; annoyed. Sending cassette.

Nasty review of book. Plumber hasn't turned up yet. Their new house.

Faces in the Water ballet. "I'll never be a writer." Wrote to George B[raziller] and her editor and agent to see who corrected proofs.

Bill and Paul to Cider County. Proofs. Neggy operation. [on Belgian card]

Men putting in plumbing. "Great pleasure to be here." Getting into work; continuing with Music Theory. Jo.

Long poem. Neggy spayed. Book being published today.

ALS: Bill and Paul moving. Birthday card. Plumbers. Daughter Buffalo mix-up. Sunday Times Review. [on crocodile card from Baltimore art gallery]

Bill and Paul to East. Plumbers done. Sister's family moved. Drawn plan of house. Newspaper clipping collages.

"The Ballad of Old Dublin Road."

Bill and Paul's new house. Daughter Buffalo reviews. Went to stay at Frank [Sargeson]'s. Neighbors.

Welcomes Bill and Paul to new house in New Hampshire.

Bill and Paul's new house.

Bill and Paul's moving day. Shellfish. Joined local library. Philip Roth. Enclosing shipping label from Neggy's cage. [on the back of her Music Theory homework]

Last letter from H. Drive. Neggy injured. Newspaper clipping of yacht race. [back of flyer from mail]

Jim Baxter died of a heart attack. Jacquie [Baxter] coming to stay. Newspaper clipping collage.

Rented TV to watch U.S. and NZ election campaign; Jim Baxter's funeral on. Funeral details.

Jacquie Baxter.

Weekend escape; Sargeson. Alan Lelchuk. Finished tape. Jim Baxter.

Rose petal pillow. Visited with Frank Sargeson, sister, niece and niece's boyfriend. Elections; end of war. Letter from director of MacDowell.

Won $300 award for Intensive Care; putting in a fence. Nasty virus. Depressed about writing.

Thanksgiving. Trip to Auckland. Wellington novelist to stay in January. Jacquie Baxter to stay "a week or so" in February. Property taxes.

New Prime Minister. Parents. Neggy catching birds. Facetious letter from Nixon.

Went to art gallery. Finished music course. Enclosing photos [not included].

Art Catalogue and Sylvia Plath poems. Neggy. Spending Christmas alone.

Carnie.

New Years wishes. "Christmas was satisfactory." Letter from May [Sarton]. Telephone call from Jacquie Baxter. Old friend Jess died over Christmas: "One of the most wonderful people [she has] ever known."

"The Far Away Hills"--Auckland Gallery booklet. Blurb for Daughter Buffalo.

Stayed with sister. Visit with Frank Sargeson. Their leaving New Hampshire.

Novelist friend of Frank [Sargeson]'s to visit. Newspaper clippings.

Hot weather. Weekend visitor.

Anniversary of Auckland's founding. Getting concrete water reservoir. Jacquie Baxter coming to stay 9 February. Poems.

Insect life. Distance from civilization.

Hot weather. Jacquie Baxter to stay tomorrow. Land behind house sold; lining study with cork to muffle noise.

Jacquie Baxter's visit. Sea creatures.

They selling their house. Cork-lined study. Going to watch Frank [Sargeson]'s house while he visits a sick friend. Paul in California.

Drought. New concrete reservoir leaks. Work is "going" and "very delicate."

Concrete tank. Stayed at Frank [Sargeson]'s. Drought. Chemical fumes made state of emergency in Auckland.

New British immigration law: "grandfather clause" Cork working. Jo. Busy with plumber and tank man.

Elnora's death [????]. Sounds. Nephew's first published work.

Bill and Paul's house hunt. Spoken with Sue [Marquand]. Marlon Brando. Stayed with Frank [Sargeson]; his 70th birthday. Mosquitoes.

Carnie. Five months of summer.

First of birthday letters. Poem.

Welcome to their new place; back out west. Sister and sister's husband visited. Charles Brasch in the hospital.

Part of terrace collapsed. Birthday letter. Nasty review of Daughter Buffalo in Saturday's paper. Wants to "leave this country forever." Plan to apply for a fellowship. They at Sunset Boulevard apartment.

They back west. Has flu. Australian magazine doing article on her work.

: Bill's show. Writing a story for the Australian magazine. Made cat door. Application for fellowship in France.

They back in California. Attempting work. Collapsed terrace. Sister's wedding anniversary. Frank "spent all dinnertime telling me what is wrong in my writing."

Charles Brasch died. Covered her piano for the winter. Watergate affair. Sending photos [not included].

Heavenly weather. Mourning for Charles Brasch. Mentioned him and his poems in the end of Daughter Buffalo. Neggy. Music.

Charles Brasch. Friend Ruth Dallas. Going into hospital 25 June. Applying for Mansfield Fellowship [in Menton, France].

Bill Inge died. "Death is having a real feast lately, a real house-cleaning." Mailed application for Menton [France] Fellowship. Rainy season. Terrace. Indian Canadian (post doctorate fellow) and pregnant wife visited.

Neggy to Ned. Queen's birthday weekend. Drawn map of the beach. Moving tribute to Charles Brasch.

Nephew. Agreed to write a tribute/memoir on Charles Brasch for a literary quarterly. Nervous about hospital visit. Poem published without her permission in the Oxford Book of New Zealand Verse; sending it.

Death of Audrey, woman in mental hospital with her who had a brain operation for asthma. Hospital stay for knee. Trying to complete book.

Home from hospital; postponed operation for six months.

Thanks for hospital letters. Knee. Interview with "chap who had the Menton Fellowship last year: Carl Stead." Good friend of Frank's.

Sheet music. Storm. Watergate affair; "Tricky Dick" Cooking course.

Fellowship in Menton. Daughter Buffalo on list of top books. Newspaper clippings.

Sending photo. Struggling to write memoir of Charles Brasch. NZ poetry book.

Noisy neighbors. Moved almost a year ago. Mr. Shakespeare. "I thought I would not mind dying."

: "n" flew off typewriter. New Public Lending Rights. Half-yearly statement from Braziller--$35. War Pension of $1,000 a year. Quote for the terrace to be fixed. Exchange rate: $400 NZ is $570 US. Waiting for operation.

If she leaves country, she loses her $1,000 pension. Bill's show.

They looking for place to live. Neighbors. Going to hospital 10 September; going to sister's weekend before. Hasn't heard about Fellowship in France.

August school holidays. Noisy next door neighbors. Neg. Visited sister and Frank [Sargeson] last weekend. Drawing of imagined town.

Received David Del Tredici interview and picture; remembers piano lessons with him. Wants to live in U.S. Waiting to hear about fellowship. Neg's "prisoner game." Hates her country. "I am panicking to get a book finished which I haven't even begun."

Her birthday. Water pump broke. Awarded fellowship in France. Has to go to Wellington to be presented with award.

Holiday crowd went home. Waiting for hospital bed. If having surgery, postponing Wellington ceremony until the end of the month. Sailing to France 31 December. To spend six months in Menton. Looking for people to stay in her house. Hoping to get work done before she leaves. Nice note from David Del Tredici from Yaddo.

Wellington. Knee healing. Letting house. Deaths. Prime Minister. Reading Updike. Circular saw noise. To Wellington 29 September with Jacquie Baxter.

Let her house to builder/painter (with cat). Off to Wellington today. Back from Wellington. Sending copy of Islands. Train sickness at Wellington. Made short speech; "was not nervous." Planning for trip.

Thinking about trip. Proud of speech at Wellington. Jacquie. Accommodations in France.

They approve of tenant. War in the Middle East. No longer using cane. Men repairing sundeck.

Terrace to be finished soon. Birthday gifts. May S[arton]. Nixon insane? Getting single cabin on the Ellinis.

Finished first draft of story for NZ publication. Bill coming home from the East. Summer. Terrace; spot for Neg. Packing. Birds.

Bill's time in New York. "Sickeningly busy." Preparing for tenant. Feels separated from work. Leaving 28 November for Auckland. Newspaper clippings.

ACS: To Paul. In French.

ACS: To Bill. In French.

APS: Arrived in France yesterday. Recovering from "Paris flu." Katherine Mansfield room. Going apartment hunting soon. Family who donated the Fellowship have arrived.

ALS: Found apartment for 600 francs a month, half of her monthly allowance. Dinner. Place romantic. Close to Italy. Staying in Villa Louise until 10 January.

ALS: Apartment. Katherine Mansfield. Getting typewriter soon. Fellowship donors.

ALS: Bill to New York. Mail. City. Donors.

Used her money to get a typewriter. Memorial room. Neg lives with neighbors.

Moving to little house; same rent as apartment. Donors left for London and New Zealand. Paying a visit?

New home. Rainy. Bill's New York trip. Bought books.

They moving. Food good and cheap. Working again.

Valentines Lemon festival and the carnival at Nice. People promenading. Written six short stories; to write a novel by June. Daily life. Misses piano music. Energy crisis in the U.S.

French portion. Bought record of piano music and other things with money they sent. Nixon; French have a number of words for "crook."

Making plans for departure with Jacquie Baxter. Leaving 12 August. Visit with neighboring couple. Went to St. Agnes. Lull in work.

First half in French. Bill and Paul's new house. May be passing through U.S. on way to NZ in September. Explored property.

Written nasty letter to Fellowship Trust asking for money. French are "logical." Strikes. They not visiting. Work "gone all to seed."

American warship with helicopters anchored in bay. Frog farm next door. French reading.

They to Berkeley. Thinks she saw Frank Sinatra one day at a beach-side table. Work gone sour. Secret places. Professor Dupont to visit. Whole year without winter.

Getting back to work. Streaker poem.

Their birthdays. Sending small parcel. Eugene Anderson's stroke.

Passing through the U.S. earlier than thought: last week of August. Will arrive home on birthday; turning 50. Finally received fellowship money. Travel itinerary.

French part. John Lehman. Review of May [Sarton]'s book. Letter from Maudsley Hospital.

Returned from three days in Florence. George Braziller's visit. Preparing to visit England. Travel plans.

Last letter before train journey to UK. Homesick. Traveling difficulties with Fellowship Committee. Ned's operation.

APS: Forgotten how beautiful Norfolk is. Going back to Menton on 25 June.

Ned's death. Arriving in San Francisco on 19 August, leaving for Auckland 25 August.

Her guest [Jacquie Baxter]. Sad about Ned. Leaving on 24 July; going back to England. Art exhibition. First French publication--letter to editor.

ALS: Headline: "Foot accused of dancing." Bill sick. Fellowship committee thoughtless; hasn't sent money for return ticket.

ALS: To London 1 August. Ned and Neg. Invited to opening--didn't go. Return ticket arrived too late.

ALS: To London on Friday then New York.

First journey on a 747. John Money away overnight. Burglar alarm. To San Francisco Monday 19 August.

APS: Had lovely stay. Misses them and the cats.

Quiet. Tenant ruined house. Plants dying. Prime Minister died.

Tenant's theft. Sister knew, didn't want to worry her. Prime Minister's funeral. TV company wants to do film of her. Man coming to fix grounds and build fence. Won $300 for "imaginative prose."

Bill sick. Tenant owes her $200.

Received letter with cash and ring. Wants to make fence herself. Place fairly organized by now. President Ford; "how are you going to get back credibility in the U.S.?" Chilean affair and CIA. [on Hawaiian stationary]

Jerry's painting arriving soon. In Auckland last week at sister's. Visited Frank [Sargeson]. Strange weather. Back to work; "slow going." Nephew and his wife settled in U.S. "Almost agreed" to do TV thing.

They started "cat farm," feeding cats. Paul's job. Jerry's painting on wall. Tenant owed everyone money. Plant flourishing.

People in charge of TV film flew up yesterday to see her. Wrote letter about "Room" at Menton. Newspaper clippings. Luggage beginning to arrive from France. Manuscript arrived; almost finished all of book. Frank's cat.

Strange in New Zealand with Charles Brasch gone. Visit with poet Jon Silkin. Terrified of her writing.

Paul's catalogue arrived. Hoping to finish a novel soon (not the Menton novel, which she "can't bear"). Bus strike.

Going ahead with TV film, "on [her] conditions." Frank [Sargeson] made an honorary doctorate of literature. How he helped her when she has no place to live. Thanksgiving.

Hot summer; water supply diminishing. Neg sunburn. Put up fence herself. Sending books for Christmas. Review of Paul's show.

Received scarf and card. Can't send Charles Brasch's Not Far Off; out of print. Stepped on nail. Hasn't started novel (not Menton novel). Christmas presents. Humorous poem. [on back of Christmas card]

Christmas doings. Sister and family touring South Island. Nephew and wife came to visit. Garden. "[P]ierced crucified foot healing miraculously." Books arrived? NZ writer Maurice Duggan died. Sending Island with some of his work, as well as a "nasty review" of Daughter Buffalo. "God, I'm not a visionary. I think I'll leave this country for good."

Sun/heat. Holidays; "people occupy every bit of land." Christmas.

New house being erected ten feet away from hers. Thinking of moving to Takapuna. New Years wishes.

Christmas. Managing her water supply. Bought motor scooter.

Carpenter repairing windowsills; another man to come mow lawn. Passed driving test. Learning to drive motorbike. Deciding if she should move. Sister returned from car trip with tales of relatives. Houseboat idea. Took photographs of Neg. Didn't send her copy of Not Far Off ; "too big an embarrassment and opposition." Making trip to Kaikoura to visit her Aunt Grace. Photo from primary school.

Recent Anniversary Weekend Holiday. Put house on market for $19,500, much more than they paid for it. Wants somewhere more secluded. Going to Auckland for haircut. Taken photos of her house/garden.

Preparing answers to questions film crew will ask. Took bike on road for first time. Film company spent eight hours with her; enjoyed their company.

Asks if they are coming to visit. Joined Automobile Association. Bill's show. Ran into former tenant.

Notes for Valentine's Day with photos [not included]. Taken house off the market. Using pink motorbike to get to town.

Wants them to visit soon. Drove twenty-two miles to have bike serviced. One of Charles Brasch's last poems written to her; considering staying in Whangaparaoa. Drawing of house.

came to look at house. House she wants to move into.

House deal. Moving week of 10 March. House details.

Bill's show. Moving soon. Received complete motorcycle license. Having gated fence built at new house immediately.

Flu and show. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. New house. Driving test.

Been in new home two days. Thirty miles south of Whangaparaoa, between Takapuna coast and Beachhaven coast. Details of house. Neg's reaction to house. Bill's show.

Critics. Plumber and electrician. Man coming to build fence tomorrow. Frank Sargeson thinks Daughter Buffalo is about him. His "friendship-love" with a man up north. [ripped page]

Bill's birthday letter. House.

Letter to their cats from Neg. Paul's birthday. Sister and sister's husband moving. Jacquie [Baxter] coming to stay for the weekend.

Jacquie Baxter's visit. Sister and sister's husband moved to Taranaki. Will have a manuscript in a few months.

First half of letter from Neg. X-rays and tests. Their European trip.

Carnie. Frank [Sargeson] reluctant to see her; "fears [she] might write about his new romance." "Obsessed with the idea of himself as a 'pervert.'" Annuity stopped.

Their European journey. Writing book. Sorry not to be doing anything with novel she wrote in France; will go in Hocken Library with another novel, called Towards Another Summer, to be examined fifty years after her death. New library to open. 100 acres of nearby native forest to be preserved as a "Nature Walk." Pension started again. Her file was lost; "if you haven't a file you don't exist." Charles Brasch's book arrived at last.

They in London. Suffering from "a kind of [writer's] block." May write two books by the end of the year. Nephew separated from his wife. Mr. Shakespeare died at 95.

In excellent health; taking pills to stabilize blood pressure. Discovered she was an identical twin. NZ elections. Queen's Birthday weekend. Sending Charles Brasch book.

Their illustrations in their letters to her. Just rung Frank [Sargeson].

They home. Sending Brasch book, Home Ground, with letter. Nasty storms. Working. Campaign to draw up a NZ Bill of Rights.

Neg. Work getting more complicated and ambitious. Ed Seaver, editor at Braziller's, retired. Motorbike being serviced.

Effects of traveling. Winter in Glenfield. Motorbike working fine now. Charles Brasch book received. Enclosing photos [not included].

Transcendental Meditation. Jo; International Women's Year. Novel very strange and getting stranger. Record player. Winter finishing. Debt collectors still searching for former tenant.

Letter from Andersons. Invitation to Adelaide Arts Festival 6-14 March 1976, in Australia. Neg. Note to Jerry. Asked to write a note on a book she read when she was a child--accepted.

Thanks for birthday drawing and money. Wrote a story and sent it out to be published in NZ. Called the painter; man next door was painting his house and making irritating scratching noises. Islands edition on Charles Brasch.

Birthday wishes. Their cats and kittens. Neg. Sister and sister's husband stayed overnight. Magazine to print "The Painter" and pay her $70. "Publishing not worth the suffering."

Lovely birthday letter. New stereo. Brasch book arrived. Jo's book received. Enclosing "The Painter" [not included].

"Battle of the lawns is on until next winter." Springtime. Not getting any feedback from her story; Frank [Sargeson] contemptuous. Neighbor from Whangaparaoa visited. Ashamed of monarchy. Work going badly, but written two books "which need engineering to take shape."

Mentions Arts Council visit, move of Paul and Bill, pea soup. Expecting big crop of fruit.

They back from Santa Fe and New York. Mock Shakespeare play of them. Decided not to go to Adelaide for Writers' Week. "Interesting array of writers listed." Sister and sister's husband prepare to visit son in Cambridge U.S. Work so-so. Sending recent photos [not included].

Fruit in her garden. Work progressing. Sister and sister's husband decided to make trip to U.S. She envies their going. Nephew and wife enjoying life in Boston. Traveling. Sending photos and a tin of honey for Christmas. Neg's visit to the vet.

Sister and sister's husband's travel plans. Agreed to be a judge for First Book Award for Prose.

Kittens. Sister and sister's husband. Niece and niece's husband came to visit. Elections at the end of the month. Feels she may have "outgrown" Yaddo.

Birthday Mozart on birthday stereo. Frank S[argeson] and May S[arton] wrote books on similar topic; hadn't the heart to mention it to Frank. Voted. Sending small parcel. New government.

Man came to mow grass for free. Bus strike. Yearly library money. Judging competition. To visit afterwards. Christmas near. Katherine Mansfield book. Kevin Ireland.

Neg's activities. Spent Christmas alone. Censorship and the government. Writing two books at once.

They are teaching. Won counting prize. NZ government "taking a dangerous restrictive turn." Sister and sister's husband's U.S. visit.

Family to visit after U.S. trip. Neg to vet; overdose of vitamin A. Planning visit.

Valentine's Day. Neg to stay with her sister while she is in the U.S. Nephew's marriage falling apart. Pleasant phone talks with Frank [Sargeson].

Wrote story "The Penultimate Madge," may change to just "The Gardener." Panic over annuity. Planning trip to U.S.

Travel expenses. Going to U.S. first week of May. Hasn't yet received any books for judging. Work awful.

Flying into San Francisco 4 May. Music shop opened in town.

Arriving in San Francisco 2 May. Henry Chapin.

Mrs. Scotts. Flu. Stray cat.

Books for P.E.N. First Novel Award. Sent stray cat to S.P.C.A. Putting Neg in a cattery while she's in the US.

Birthday greeting for Bill. Will bring something with her for their birthdays. Neg to cattery 14 April. She leaving for U.S. a week or so later. Frank Sargeson to visit. Frank's friend to sublet her place while she's gone. Finished judging books for First Book of Fiction Award. Only eight books, many dull and depressing.

Hoped to have poem for their birthdays; only has combination of first lines of well-known poems. Took Neg to cattery today. Clipped poem from The New Yorker.

Carnie. Scotts' return from Italy.

Letter from Carnie. Drawings.

Neg back home. Flight from L.A. Frank well. "Brief home-again letter."

Poem. Bill's and Paul's eviction. Noisy weather.

Nostalgia. Putting in a cat door. Novel "better and worse than I thought it was." Still hard work to do.

Phone number used to be owned by fire extinguished company; keeps getting calls for them. Memorial for Charles held in Dunedin, called Charles Brasch Festival.

Their new place on Jersey Street. Fire in oven when cooking; burnt fingers. Storms. Hates work. Professor and wife to visit on their way to Hawaii.

Trees. Carnie. Their new house. Noisy neighbors. Arranged for a six-foot fence to be put up. Visit from Australian professor and wife. Patrick White. Christina Stead. Novelist to visit. Frank [Sargeson] well.

Jersey Street poem. Appointment at Auckland Hospital.

They settled in house. Sent parcel. Decided to move again. Moving in late October to street sister lives on; "Yaddo situation." House old and roomy. Sold house for $26,000, what she paid for it. New house $12,500. No interruption in her work.

Fire. Plan of new house. Sending photo of house [not included]. Volcanoes around house. Patrick White.

Moving and settling. New house. Starting work again. Earthquake faults.

Neg up a tree. Much quieter than Glenfield. House solid and spacious. Sister and sister's husband two doors away.

Getting a gate. Working. Stratford's bloody history. In Owls Do Cry, the comparison of frost on grass to an old man's beard was a reference to Frank S[argeson]. Frank's autobiography.

Bill's new studio. Stratford Labour Day. Neighbors. Enclosing photos [not included]. Political situation "quite grim."

Taranaki bull country. Hurt shoulder during move; physiotherapy at hospital across the street. Carter elected President in U.S. Bookshop.

Received records; many thanks. Piano needs tuning. Work progresses. Sending books. New Plymouth. Patrick White.

Sylvie Pasche and John Money. Christmas hello. Summer has come. Hates manuscript.

Christmas. Unpublished novels and poems. Goldfish died. Visited mother's sister in hospital. Manuscript on its way to Braziller. Jacquie Baxter coming to stay. Letter from Frank S[argeson]; finished his autobiography, Never Enough.

Art in NZ. Earthquake in CA.

Friend Ruth Dallas's book, Walking on the Snow. Two more [Jim] Baxter books out. Visit with Jacquie [Baxter]. Sister and sister's husband moving to a smaller place in Stratford. NZ earthquake.

Neg. Clippings about her step-great-grandfather from Jacquie. Going to visit aunt in the South Island. Newspaper clipping "Composer of the Week."

ALS: Postscript to last letter. Newspaper clippings: editorial she sent to the paper.

Heard from John Marquand that Sue died a month ago. Terrible shock.

Still shaken by Sue's death. John's eulogy. Trying to overcome "consuming restlessness to face [her] work."

Received records. Sorry to hear of friend's death. Played piano.

Bill's birthday. Plumber. Ruth Dallas's essay, "Beginnings."

Enclosing photos [not included]. Invitation for free trip to Honolulu to present a paper on the East-West culture. Sister and sister's husband overseas. Niece's daughter possibly autistic.

Wrote précis for Honolulu paper. Approach of winter. Correspondence with John Marquand about what to put on Sue's tombstone. Sue was "one of the few people in the world who let me know I was needed." Work stuck.

Enjoying climate. Neg. "Turned against" Scott house novel, just like Menton novel.

Hasn't heard if her paper was accepted for the conference yet. Writing work daily. Postcard from sister in Stratford-on-Avon. Stopped drinking coffee because it is too expensive.

Quiet for working. Considering joining the Catholic Church. Hasn't heard about paper yet; getting cold feet. Novel written at the Scott's being incorporated into her current work.

Paper accepted for conference; has to be sent by 15 August. Scared. Book will be finished before she leaves. Still thinking of joining Catholic Church. Poem.

Thanks for the birthday present. Doctor's appointment. "Hermitlike existence." Finished paper last week. Visit to Catholic bookstore in Wanganui. Hopes to have book done in a few weeks.

Forest fires in U.S. Church. Hoping book gets going again. Conference in Honolulu last week of October. Invitation to P.E.N. conference in Sydney from 11-17 December. Will be back from Honolulu (and San Francisco) by then. John Money coming to NZ to visit brother. Poem.

Plans shaping. Paper accepted for conference. Going to visit San Francisco before Hawaii. John Money's visit. Getting back to finishing book.

Visiting San Francisco both before and after the conference. Poem.

Travel plans changed again. Visiting England before conference, then flying to New York, then going to Baltimore, then flying to San Francisco until the flight to Hawaii on Friday. Photo of mountain [not included]. Went to mass.

Home for several days. Conference details. Neg cared for by her sister. Journey to Sydney already booked. Returning to work. Prime Minister visiting the U.S. (won't mention the bill he passed that legalizes phone tapping and mail intervention).

Sending Charles Brasch books. P.E.N. people asked her to submit paper; she doesn't want to. Instruction classes at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Staying with Jacquie Baxter and flying to Sydney from there.

They received Brasch books. Newspaper clippings. To Wellington (Jacquie Baxter's) on Friday. Not presenting a paper at the P.E.N. conference, but will "organize a few thoughts." Might have mumps.

Went to Australia. Virus struck hard after she returned; spent Christmas alone in bed. Conference details. Ruth Dallas. Doctor said she probably had the mumps.

Finishing book(s). P.E.N. conference. Cannot accept beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. Being given an honorary doctorate from Otago University in May.

ALS/TLS: Hot summer; drought. Drowns out rural noises while working. Visited a seaside Taranaki town to look for houses. Their shows. Final lesson on Catholicism. Moving to another part of town 10 March. House details. Work going strangely. Valentine's Day.

Moving plans could fall through. John Baxter and Karen had baby. Stratford centenary celebration. Sister and sister's husband electioneering.

Moved into new house in Taranaki (Juliet Street). House description. Neg. Invited to International Biography Society conference in San Francisco in July.

House repairs. Neighbors. Working.

ALS: Bill's show. Sent Frank [Sargeson] a poem. Drought over; roof leaks. Plumbers. Work progressing. Honorary doctorate public. Will miss Charles Brasch's presence. Sending other half of birthday presents in a week.

Back from "being doctored." Homecoming disasters. Visited two aged aunts.

Paul's show. Decided not to embrace religion; likes her freedom. Noises. Dunedin details. Cousin Archie. Winter.

Switching medicine to regain her energy. Her doctor"unbelievably dull and insensitive." Another invitation to Hawaii.

NZ pianist. Film show in Wellington. Injured leg while moving bookcase. Neg likes to sit on roof. Stratford Arts Center. Muses.

Thanks for birthday wishes. Book on the way. Paul to Honolulu. Michael Houston.

Gave producer of the movie A State of Siege (based on her book) Bill's address because he liked Bill's paintings. Film details. Back to work. Loves birthday present (red cross).

To Bill: Tadzio affair. Producer of A State of Siege liked Bill's paintings. Former "Yaddo-ite" John Unterecker.

To Paul: Paul in Hawaii. Auckland similar to Hawaii. Saw movie A State of Siege, based on her book. Thought "was a very fine film, a poem." Producer stayed with her several days.

To "Hawaiian Paul": Payment. A State of Siege (movie). Springtime in NZ. Bill to East Coast.

"Hasty tasty sort of letter." Sent two stories to a magazine for money: "Insulation" and "Two Widowers." Michael Houston concert. Crocheted a poncho for Bill; scared to mail it. Sending books for Christmas.

A State of Siege (movie) won a gold medal at Chicago Festival. Finished book. New Zealand election campaign; sister candidate. Doctor suspects she has arthritis in her hands, but can't prove it. Stories to be published in The Listener. May send them accumulated work; publisher eager.

Letter from Jo. In the middle of work. Election over; sister (June) not elected.

Thanks for Christmas gifts. Sending manuscript to publisher. Wants to deliver poncho personally in March. George Braziller coming to NZ.

January lonely. No sign of George Braziller. Her book "is a bore." Working on house. Found place to leave Neg when she goes away.

Finished typing up book. Tempted to fly to U.S. to deliver poncho personally. Been restrained about sending an article from The Listener, an extract of the autobiography of her English publisher Mark Goulden; insensitive article, all about her. Paul's show. Sister and sister's husband moved to Wanganui, to be closer to their daughter with an autistic child. Going to classes in lip reading; told she would be deaf in a few years. Jo's play.

Valentine's Day. Cannot afford to fly to U.S. Wants to take advantage of Stratford winter to write another book. May be able to use book advance to fly out to visit. Thermostat confusion.

Returned from visit to sister in Wanganui. Poncho received in CA. Braziller arrived. Festival in Honolulu late June/early July. Neg enjoyed Pusshaven (cattery). Plans to finish another book before festival.

Hawaiian conference. New houses being built around her; panicked and put up "For Sale" sign.

Second letter to them today. Won't be visiting U.S. this year, while book is being published in U.S.

Their birthdays. Sent books as presents. Put off Honolulu journey. Decided once again to sell and move; too many houses being built nearby. Shutters she made.

Letter for Paul's birthday. Hates new book. Thinking of moving to Wanganui or a University town. Written to Literary Fund to see if she can sell the rights of all her books after her death. Neg.

Was in Wanganui, looking at houses. Visited relatives on her mother's side. Neg back to Pusshaven.

Housing Inspector rejected house, and won't give any home loans to young couples interested in the house. Not going to Adelaide Festival in March. Weekend of Queen's Birthday.

House too expensive for buyers. Jo teaching about writing. Air mail erratic. Frank [Sargeson] sent new book. Her new book Living in the Maniototo.

"Grim budget" from a "grim government." No one buying house. No further news of her book. Answering letter from Italian who became obsessed with her name, and sent her a Venetian Frame. [on "photo letter"]

Bill and Paul not visiting NZ; going to India. No sale of house yet. Sister and sister's husband (June and Wilson) to Australia. Jo's 60th birthday. May [Sarton] has cancer.[on "photo letter"]

Waiting for someone to buy her house. May [Sarton]'s cancer. Book being published in three or four weeks. Will get $1500 in advance. Training College for Teachers putting on dramatization of one of her stories; resisting temptation to go.

Book being published in U.S. Review of Living in the Maniototo in Time. Moving as soon as she can sell her house; no prospect of working. Going to stay with her sister and then Jacquie Baxter in the next few weeks.

ALS: Book reviews. Spending five weeks in England, three visiting old lady friend in Norfolk. Tentatively leaving the end of September. Considering going to Adelaide Festival in March.

Back from stay in Wellington and Wanganui. Making three-week journey to UK. Written to the Scotts. Writer's conference in Wellington.

Back home. They in India. Internal Affairs Department gave $7,500 towards buying a house. Hasn't received any copies of her book from the U.S. yet; annoyed.

Thanks for Christmas presents. Moved to Wanganui; house details. "Exchanged the sound of saws and industry for dogs and disco!" Move painless. Bill and Paul's paintings on the wall.

Quiet. New cattery. June and Wilson touring South Island; Wilson has skin cancer. Empty cardboard container came in mail the other day; still no books. Valentine's Day.

Sending a photo of Michael Houston, an article on the Wanganui river- road, and Tony Vogt's autobiographical note [none included]. Pohutukawa tree.

Robberies. Neighbor. Maori's. Having weekend visitor soon; lecturer from St. Louis. Wrote nice review of Living in the Maniototo.

Birthday wishes. Phone out of order. Went to stay with Jacquie Baxter in Wellington over Easter. Waiting for winter.

Jerry's show. Stopped taking pills for blood pressure. Neg. Went to Maori concert. June and Wilson moving to Levin, near Wellington; taken up hypnosis. Charms of Wanganui.

Finishing autobiographical essay. Has little motor scooter again. Won NZ fiction award of the year ($2,000). Braziller reprinting her books in paperback. Michael Houston playing in Wanganui later in the year. State of Siege playing in San Francisco Festival. Mt. Egmont.

Has flu. Work has come to a standstill; will not finish book before she visits. Michael Houston in Wanganui; missed him due to flu. John Money passed through on a lecture tour. Criminal offence to swear in Maori.

Garden full of freesias. Taking blood pressure pills again. It will be shocking if Ronald Reagan wins the presidency. Autobiographical essay "going so stupidly." Cannot visit U.S. until Mar/April of next year.

Thanks for birthday present. Earthquake in the night. Earthquakes every three or four weeks, usually coincide with French bomb tests in the Pacific. Exhibition of paintings touring NZ.

Reagan soon to be in office. Visited Frank [Sargeson], who has had a couple of strokes. Sent small parcel. Work going slowly.

Finishing first volume of autobiography before she visits the U.S. Bought cooking materials for Christmas baking.

Weather warm and humid. Spending Christmas alone, although had many invites. Planning visit to US and UK.

Received books for Christmas. Reporter from the local newspaper brought her a "Hermit's Survival Kit." Visit from nephew, his wife, and their daughter. Reagan behaves like an actor. May Sarton unwell. Travel plans. To visit sister and aunts for about a week.

Visit to Levin and Wellington. Working out details of journey. Looking for new cattery. Nephew accepted post at M.I.T.

Travel itinerary. New cattery. Penguin offered to reprint her books in paperback; higher royalties.

Flight itinerary. Trying to finish second draft of autobiographical essay. Agent published her book with another company (not Penguin) without letting her sign the contract.

Looking forward to visit. Retyping second volume of autobiographical essay. Enclosing photos June took with new camera [not included].

Poem. Neg's trial run at new cattery. Busy with preparations and will have to bring work with her.

Bill's birthday. Sent flowers and parcel. Canceled visit overseas. Collapsed on bus; fine now, but exhausted. Will return Bill's contribution to her airfare. [on "photo letter"]

Poem. Went to doctor's yesterday for tests.

In perfect health. Busy with volume.

Their shows. At 1963 in autobiography. Recently published Sage Tea, autobiography of homosexual painter Toss Woollaston. Attended farewell gathering.

Wants to get into new colony in CA. Book just published in UK to rave reviews. Their paintings constantly admired.

Wrote to Jo, who told her about the new colony. Working out dates for visit. Turmoil in NZ. Into second volume of autobiography; omitting time in hospital. [on "photo letter"]

Almost collapsed on another bus; motion sickness. First volume of autobiography being published in the UK by the Women's Press. Agreed to go to Sydney, Australia for a week-long conference, all expenses paid. Urge to visit elderly lady in Norfolk. Jacquie Baxter and son traveling to Japan.

Fingers sore from typing. Paul's commission. Rugby Union controversy. Enclosed her article to a local newspaper. Hasn't heard about CA colony yet.

Thanks for letter and generous birthday present. Government problems in both countries. Retyping first volume of autobiography; broken typewriter. People she shares her birthday with. Neg ten years old next year. [on "photo letter"]

Neg likes to sleep in the middle of the road. Making arrangements for U.S. visit. Planning visit with niece Pamela. Hair going gray. Hasn't spent birthday money yet. Will bring Collected Poems of James K. Baxter when she comes to visit. Election before her visit; hopes for a change of government.

Rearranging visiting dates. Nation almost a police state. Poem "The Story of Bill Birch the Flasher."

Niece no longer traveling with her. Will be in U.S. around mid-January. Finishing second volume of autobiography. Made soap.

ALS: Spring in Wanganui. Increase in air fares; arriving in San Francisco on Friday 8 January 1982. Been invited to Yaddo for February and March. State of NZ government. Wellington City Council wrote for her permission to name a street or place after her. She agreed, noting how she would be spared from embarrassment because her income does not provide her with a house in a new subdivision.

Neg recovering from bite of cat next door. Queen of England "flitting around country." John Money "passed through"; art museum friends. Heard from people at CA colony (Briarcombe); too late to make arrangements. NZ Literary Fund and P.E.N. thought of setting up a colony in NZ. Looking forward to travels.

: "Bitchy reviewers." Edith Head died. New typewriter. Preparing for election in NZ.

Eagerly awaiting departure and Author's Fund. Paul's show. They to Hawaii.

Has cold. Going to Yaddo 9 February. Staying with John and Rose Marie. Has had no word of Frank [Sargeson]'s condition. Poem.

Changes at Yaddo. Guests: young writer, three painters, director Curtis Harnack, and herself. Bedroom and view. Frank "deteriorating fast," in private room at the hospital. Wrote letter to editor of Islands, "pleading for Frank to have some dignity of dying"; no money available in the Internal Affairs Dept.

Snow. Painter-turned-writer asked her to get information about Briarcombe in Marin County. Hard times for Yaddo. Only two painters left now. Will finish first draft of second volume at the end of the coming week. No further word about Frank. Thinks she may not go to UK.

APS: Rose gardens at Yaddo. Finished draft of second volume. Not visiting UK. Home in April; hoping to see Frank "above the earth."

Painter from CA: Daniel Wiener. Home in Wanganui by Easter. Frank [Sargeson] died on 2 March. Writing a memoir of him for Islands. Going to New York at publisher's expense, then Baltimore, then LA, then home.

Paul ill. Won't stay with John Money long. Yaddo "been marvellous as usual." Has to share a bathroom. Memoir of Frank 200 words in the form of a letter. Influx of guests today and tomorrow. Thought of no Frank in Auckland appalling.

Paul feeling better. Visit to New York "brief and interesting." Dined with John Marquand and his "'friend' who could be his daughter but isn't." John Money's place "quite diverting." Enclosing copy of "letter" she wrote to Frank [not included]. Paul's catalogue.

Birthday wishes. Decided to install phone again. Collected Neg from cattery; she weighed only 18 ounces. Neighbor robbed. [on birthday card]

Planning to send Sargeson Complete Memoirs and Stories. Wanganui bookstores. Frank's executor and beneficiary going to preserve Frank's house and, with a government grant, build a house in the back for a writer to live and write on a scholarship. Wants to move to a University city to spend her last days. Neggy recovering from cattery experience. [on "photo card"]

Queen's Birthday Weekend. "Work is horrible." Has jacket for first volume of autobiography; fears it is too thin. John Money mugged. Found books to send for their birthdays. [on "photo card"]

In London for postponed UK trip. Meeting June in London for a few days. Returning to Auckland around 15 October. Miss Dawson's eighty-eight birthday. Met author John Cannon. First volume of autobiography coming out in U.S. in October.

Agreed to live in Dawson's cottage at Itteringham after she is 60. Wanganui has had fifteenth earthquake in a week. Typing copies of the second volume of her autobiography; hasn't received first one yet. Thinking of going seriously into poetry. Guy Fawkes Day. Maori superstition that whenever English royalty visits NZ, there is a natural disaster. Maori "pahs."

Neg just recovered from a horrible illness. Hurricane in CA. Baked Christmas cake. Reviews of her autobiography; one "flattering and intelligent" from Newsday, "whatever that is." Received neither books nor full advance. Maurice Duggan book. Hasn't been bold enough to go to Auckland since Frank [Sargeson]'s death. Invited to take first Fellowship (Frank Sargeson Trust), but there is little hope the government will get enough money. Frank's executor and beneficiary staying with her overnight.

Manuka flower. Nearby rubbish dump; suggests to her she would like to move again. Brief hello to Paul nice. Is enviably alone. Rain; Neg loves it. "Cemetary Circuit" motorcycle race.

Agreed to do interviews for autobiography; narrow-minded questions from narrow-minded people. Feel[s] like leaving the country forever. "Light- hearted" wander.

Stayed in Levin with June and Wilson. Neighbors got a synthesizer. Once again thinking of moving. Daughter of her cousin has a film company and wants to make films out of two of her books. Retyping of second volume of autobiography going slowly. Brother wrote long letter in response to first volume. New land-agent. May Sarton.

Happy after-birthdays. Asks if they received the flowers she sent. Interviews (five) have appeared in their respective papers, magazines, etc. Elizabeth Peter Dawson of Norfolk "failing fast;" urged her to fly over. Going down to Wellington to hear results of tests at the breast clinic. Going to stay with Jacquie Baxter and family in Wellington. Rereading Plato.

ALS: Neg 12; attacked by cat next door again. Her tests results "all clear." Stay at Baxter's. Queen of England made her a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; lower than a Dame. Finished second volume of autobiography. Third volume just needs retyping. Fourth volume for posthumous publication. Has a lot of work on her plate. Thinking of visiting E. P. Dawson in August/September. Would be lovely if they finally made a visit to New Zealand. Going to be "invested" by Governor General later in the year.

Thinks NZ should become a state of the U.S. Considering moving. Second volume of autobiography will be finished and mailed soon. "Investiture" in early October. Their shows. Paul Taylor Dance Company. Choosing title for volume.

Drilling of natural gas line fifty yards from house. Thanks for art birthday gifts. Moving to Levin, in Wellington, on 15 November. First volume of autobiography won NZ Book of the Year award and $6,000. New editor at Braziller's "performed gross indecencies and intrusions on [her] manuscript." "Invested" at Governor's House. Braziller wrote to say the editor was removed and the book would be printed as she wrote it. Has a steel plate inserted in the sole of her foot. Politicians gone crazy: "Reagan is in his dotage while our Prime Minister is almost a dictator."

ACS: Looking forward to seeing them again. Neg had three teeth removed. [on ad card from German publisher as a sample photo for book jacket for Owls Do Cry to come out in June]

Their catalogue. New house. Visit to Wellington and Jacquie. Levin like a small American town. Sent books for Christmas and a volume of stories by J. C. Sturm (Jacquie Baxter).

Agreed to read at Christchurch festival in March. Judging short story contest (American Express Short Story Award), but hasn't received any of the stories yet. Working on volume three of autobiography.

Jacquie [Baxter]'s weekend stay. Read seventy stories for American Express Short Story Award. Reading at Christchurch Festival; can't find anything "good enough." Film on Faces in the Water; will receive $15-20,000 if they make it. Received letter from Lenono Studio in New York about the Strawberry Fields Project.

Their birthdays. Trying to finish volume three of autobiography for her birthday (sixtieth). Election year. Nice visit at Christchurch Festival.

APS: Sending second volume of autobiography. Postcard is of mother's hometown.

ALS: Returned from Wellington visit. Special dinner in her honor for outstanding achievement in the arts; won $20,000 tax-free. Starting third draft of third volume of autobiography. Returning to fiction after her autobiography. Accepting invitation to an author's gallery in Toronto in October. Second volume of autobiography being published in U.S.; won national non-fiction award in UK. Neighborhood become noisy. Grant to go to Canada.

Trying to finish third volume of autobiography before she leaves for San Francisco. Time in Pittsford, N.Y. Baltimore neighborhood going downhill.

Adding onto house. Note from George Braziller: broke into tears when he finished the second volume; wants to be known as the publisher of Janet Frame.

"Moved into working year." New government (Labor) non-nuclear. TV station wants to film her.

Government woes. Decided against allowing company to film her. Maori friends. Hot weather. Men coming to work on house. Now going to be filmed; can't resist their phone calls. [on "photo card"]

Birthday hello. Sending local poetry. Framing their paintings for their birthdays. Emperor butterflies. Finished alterations to the house. [on "photo card"]

Neg 14. Got a Commodore 64 computer.

TLS/ALS: Computer difficulties. Book not going well; hope to have it finished by September. Dunedin. New phone system.

ALS: Adjusting to computer. House next door sold. Put "for sale" sign in front of house. Won't finish her book until April 1986. Has no news of anything from agent in New York. Their new studio. Occasional visitors. Declined invitations to festivals. International Festival in Wellington next year; doesn't think she'll be there. Adding small room to back of house with money from film a company is making of a short story she did a long time ago; film of Faces in the Water "died even before birth." Jacquie Baxter coming to stay.

Publisher waiting for new novel. Plans for additional room fell through. Neggy.to International Festival in Wellington in March. Levin soil. Flying to UK to visit ailing friend (Dawson).

Change in travel plans. Birthday wishes.

TLS/ALS: Bill's operation. Dates for visiting San Francisco. Halley's comet. Sister in hospital for small operation; great-nieces also illl. Proposed journey of NZ women writers to Europe in June. Room will be built onto house upon return.

TLS/ALS: Home from U.S. and Auckland. Room on house finished; builder messy. Went to award function. Neg lost 2/3 her weight at cattery. E. P. Dawson died, gave cottage to Janet. Separated from work. Got answering machine. Won cake at her bank's raffle.

Her birthday gift. Hoping to live in Dawson's cottage for at least a few months before she sells it. Post-autobiography is a strange time. Enjoying new workroom. Returned to old typewriter. Applying for new Frank Sargeson Fellowship in Auckland. Canceled accepted invitation to Melbourne Festival.

ALS: Beryl Markham. Death of Neg; absence devastating. Jacquie Baxter's stay. [on "photo card"]

Patrick White's novel. Became first Frank Sargeson Fellow; accepted for two months at $1,000 per month. Living arrangements; reminds her of Edward MacDowell's cottage at Peterborough. Returning to Levin week before Easter, then flying to UK. Lawyer tells her cottage is uninhabitable. [on "photo card"]

ALS: Birthday letter; sent parcel. Finishing first draft of novel; should be completely done in September. [on "photo card"]

Received invitation to Brisbane. Retyping novel to give to publisher in October. Stay in Itteringham cottage, very comfortable despite lack of domestic arrangements. Cottage already auctioned off. Arranged for wooden cross for E. P. Dawson's grave. Met John Money in London. "No novelist," but interested in what she's writing. Bought a small flat; will sell home when novel is finished and move in by Christmas. Got new cat from vet's: Penny Pantyhose. Old government reelected. Thanks for birthday wishes and gift.

ALS: Shifted into "non-letter-writing phase of life." Used E. P. Dawson's cottage money to buy a farmhouse on an acre of land 2-3 miles from a small town named Shannon. House details. Moving 8 March. Past owners left farm animals for her. Keeping current flat for 8 months.

Dancer Douglas Wright's visit. Enjoying living without neighbors.

Answering letter from Patrick White's biographer. Will buy car if film company raises enough money to make film of her autobiography. Jacquie Baxter's visit. Found opossum in kitchen cupboard.

ALS: Bruno's [Bill and Paul's cat] death. Has had driver's license for three weeks. News of nephew Geordie. Thinks latest work, The Carpathians, has "sunk without a trace." Hasn't received copies from Braziller.

Bill and Paul contacted Braziller and asked him to send her copies of The Carpathians. Invitation for them to come visit her new house. Going to South Island with June and Wilson.

APS: Had patch of ill-health.

APS: Sending hello and love, a poor substitute for a letter.

APS: Verandah in winter sunlight.

APS: Thanks for painting-postcard and sweater. In Auckland watching the shooting of the film of her autobiography.

ACS: Recovering from many months of the flu. The Carpathians won the Commonwealth Prize for Fiction. Was not fit to fly to the dinner at the Sydney Opera House or to London for "an audience with the Queen." Queen visiting New Zealand in February. Lending her house to a writer for the end of February until the end of September. Congratulations on their shows.

[Photocopy] TLS to Murray Martin, Windsor, CT, angered that her friend sold her letters to Martin, and they are being read sooner than the fifty years after her death as she had stipulated.

APS: A belated Valentine's Day hello.

APS: From "A.C. Plant" astonished to see them near the cacti at the botanic gardens.

ACS: From Carnie. Poem, "Carnie's Song." [on Valentine's Day card]

ACS: From Carnie. Poem.

ACS: From Carnie. Valentine's Day card.

APS: "Taped the cat (Tinkerbell) purring, myself reading poems, a radio interview eith Frank Sargeson, family noises, etc. and should finish it in Dunedin."

AP: "X marks the spot behind the hill where my house is."

ACS: Humorous greeting card signed "Nostalgia, Tarantula, Piecemeal."

AP: "Love to 3."

blank postcard

AP: "The fat sheep."

blank photo postcard

ANS: From Carnie. Janet is in their garden.

ACS: Paul's and Bill's show. From Carnie.

AN: Poem about Bill's illness.

ACS: Christmas greetings on hand-painted card.

Fires in CA. John Money returning from Portugal. Visited Philadelphia.