Two interviews with James K. Baxter.

Rights Information
Year
1972
Reference
27782
Media type
Audio
Ask about this item

Ask to use material, get more information or tell us about an item

Rights Information
Year
1972
Reference
27782
Media type
Audio
Categories
Interviews (Sound recordings)
Sound recordings
Duration
00:10:40
Credits
RNZ Collection
Baxter, James K., 1926-1972, Speaker/Kaikōrero

Two excerpts from two interviews with New Zealand poet, James K. Baxter.

In the first, interviewer Gerry Brackenbury asks him about whether he has a death wish. Baxter also comments about pacifism and French nuclear bomb tests in the South Pacific and environmentalism.
He describes himself as a 'door in the fence' between Māori and Pakeha cultures. (This interview was recorded a week before Baxter's death in 1972.)

In the second interview he talks with a female interviewer about being an alcoholic and how this affects his identity. He talks about belonging to Alcoholics Anonymous and says it is responsible for him being alive today.
He says drug and alcohol use is likely to increase in society with more young people developing addictions. He comments on how society should treat young people with these problems. He comments about young people and the education system.
He talks about how to make yourself available to the community and quotes from one of his poems. He says he believes if people share their goods, they have greater peace in their soul.