About JAAM

JAAM (Just Another Art Movement) is a literary journal published by the JAAM Collective in Wellington, New Zealand. It was founded in 1995 by Mark Pirie and other members of a writer’s group at Victoria University.

JAAM has since grown into a popular national literary journal and receives funding from Creative NZ/Toi Aotearoa. It has a strong emphasis on promoting the work of younger and emerging Aotearoa/New Zealand writers, while still publishing the work of international writers and established New Zealand authors.

JAAM usually has a guest editor for each issue, who will sometimes have a set theme in mind. The co-managing editors of JAAM are Helen Rickerby and Clare Needham, who have both been involved with JAAM since its inception.

JAAM prints fiction, poetry, essays and artwork, including photography. It publishes a diverse mix of voices, including experimental, cutting-edge work.

Contributors to appear in JAAM have included Australia’s John Forbes, Ken Bolton, Pam Brown, John Kinsella, Malaysia’s K S Maniam, Thailand’s Pira Sudham, Zimbabwe’s Dambudzo Marechera, and from New Zealand Vincent O’Sullivan, Lauris Edmond, Fleur Adcock, Albert Wendt, David Eggleton and Sam Hunt.

At the same time it has been influential in promoting a new wave of young New Zealand writers, including Mark Pirie, Helen Rickerby, Scott Kendrick, Tracey Slaughter, Tim Jones, Jo Randerson, Anna Jackson, Nick Ascroft, Ingrid Horrocks, Jenny Powell-Chalmers, Jeanne Bernhardt.

Co-managing editors

Clare Needham is a writer and lawyer. She has worked as in-house legal counsel at Penguin Books UK, production manager for the stage show spectacular Maui: One Man Against the Gods, and a theatre and dance producer. She has been involved in JAAM since its inception.

Helen Rickerby is a poet, publisher and web editor. Her first collection of poetry was Abstract Internal Furniture (HeadworX , 2001) and her second was My Iron Spine (HeadworX 2008). She runs Seraph Press, a botique publishing company that’s gaining a reputation for publishing high-quality poetry. She can often be found blogging at wingedink.blogspot.com.