Janet Charman

Janet Charman (born 1954) is a poet from New Zealand.

Background Born in 1954, Charman grew up in the Hutt Valley and Taranaki.

Works

Charman's poems are often set in the suburbs of New Zealand and draw on issues that relate specifically to women, including topics such as sexuality, victimisation, and motherhood. She is known for her stylistic choices such as using limited punctuation and capitalisation, including lowercase for the pronoun 'I'.

She has also been publishing in several anthologies including The New Poets: initiatives in New Zealand poetry (1987, edited by Murray Edmond and Mary Paul) and Yellow Pencils: Contemporary Poetry by New Zealand Women (1988, edited by Lydia Wevers).

Poems by Charman have appeared in the Best New Zealand Poems series, including in 2005 and 2007.

Awards In 2008, her collection of poems, Cold Snack was awarded the Poetry Award at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.