Medal an ode to crafter of poetry

2nd June 2008

Poetry - in particular the poetry on Katikati's haiku pathway - is associated by many people, within the Bay of Plenty and beyond, with Catherine May Mair.

Mrs Mair has been awarded a Queen's Service Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to poetry and to the community, an honour that caught her by surprise but which, she says, should be shared by the entire community.

"It's pretty amazing - certainly nothing I had ever contemplated. It was quite extraordinary for a little country town like Katikati, more than eight years ago, to take on a millennium project like the haiku pathway. Probably very few people in the area had heard of haiku before so it was a bold step on their part," Mrs Mair said.

The long-term Katikati resident is well-established as a poet and writer whose work has been published in New Zealand and overseas for many years.

Mrs Mair has written and published numerous short stories, is a past editor of WinterSPIN, now known as Kokako, and has collaborated on writing for readers with disabilities.

She was a driving force behind the haiku pathway along Katikati's Uretara Stream, which was developed by the Katikati Open-Air Art and the Heart of Katikati Group to mark the new millennium, and is now chairwoman of the Haiku Pathway Focus Committee.