Articles by Kerry Meadows-Bonner

Recognized for many different reasons; a diarist, poet, and punk rock musician, he was part of New York’s post punk and beatnik scene in the 1970’s and 1980’s and had lived a harrowing existence of drug addiction and prostitution in his younger years famously chronicled in his best known novels, the gritty autobiographical, The Basketball Diaries and it’s follow up, Forced Entries. In addition to his literary output, his music also continues to…

He was a brilliant playwright, poet and author who was a larger than life figure in the Victorian era. He advocated for socialism and the literary movement, Aestheticism and was famously imprisoned for his homosexuality at a time of illegality, rife sexual repression and hostility. Nevertheless, he broadened the horizons of 19th century literature and helped open the doors to the development of modernism. Born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills…

He was the founder of the Gonzo movement, a written style without objectivity and first person narrative and became a prominent writer within counter culture for his life long use of alcohol, drug use, firearms and his contempt for authoritarianism. He was unique and unpredictable, leaving his mark on the literary and real world with a literal bang. Hunter Stockton Thompson was born July 18th, 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky, the first of three…

He was an American writer, journalist and novelist known for his sparse and uncomplicated writing style that was also economical and understated. He led an adventurous life ending in tragic circumstances and continues to have a strong influence on 20th century fiction. Ernest Miler Hemingway was born 21 July 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, Chicago to Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a doctor, and Grace Hall Hemingway, a musician and suffragist. The…

He was one of the most respected writers and poets of the Beat generation alongside his friends, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. He was unconventional and championed for gay rights at a time when homosexuality acts were criminal in every state and embodied counter culture thinking too with his views on drugs, hostility to bureaucracy and economic materialism. Allen Ginsberg left his mark in the world with his unusual formatted poetry and…

He was recognized for his method of spontaneous prose covering topics from catholic spirituality, drugs, poverty and travel and best known for his novel, On The Road, he was a pioneer of the Beat Generation movement alongside Allan Ginsberg and William Burroughs. A former football star turned literary iconoclast and poet, Jack Kerouac. Born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac on March 12th, 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the third child to French…

New Zealand has grown to be a multi-cultural nation and encompasses a wide range of groups and beliefs. But as of the 2018 census, statistics show almost half of our population doesn’t identify with any religion. As churches all over the country celebrate somewhat differently this Good Friday and Easter Sunday, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, elocal looks at the history of Christianity in New Zealand and whether it is…

He was an American writer and visual artist of experimental novels and a primary figure in the Beat Generation movement. His influence affected literature and 1960s counter culture figures and he lived a wild ride of a life that included addiction and a fascination for guns. Forever cemented in history, his name remains synonymous to new, emerging writers hoping to make a literary career out of living dangerously. William Seward Burroughs the…

Considered a prolific underground writer who wrote short stories, novels and poems that reflected on the social, cultural and economic ambience of urban life in a downtrodden America Society came the German-American writer, Charles Bukowski. An outrageous anti -hero literary figure, Charles Bukowski was arguably one of the greatest American writers with detractors who charged him with being crude, vulgar and racist, while fans praised him for…

Adam Mainey has always enjoyed keeping fit. From his younger years playing sport, to his previous jobs as a Bricklayer and running his own Masonry business, he was always challenged, or so he thought, until the day he changed careers and tried Crossfit for the first time. He says he had done the gym thing before and never got into it, but Crossfit beat him up and he fell in love with the challenge of it and its community of people. · From…