Raumati South author Terry Fitzgibbon releases new book

Terry Fitzgibbon with his book Salt. Photo / Grace Odlum

Terry Fitzgibbon has loved the ocean for as long as he can remember.

He’s also an artist, an author, and a photographer – and takes a lot of his inspiration from the sea.

“The briny ocean has always been my main muse.”

Fitzgibbon, who lives in Raumati South, has written seven books and illustrated more than 30 children’s books over the course of his career, many of them ocean-themed, but his newest book takes a bit of a different approach.

It’s called Salt – Coastal Connections and is a collection of poems he has written over many decades, accompanied by black and white photos taken by both himself and a couple of other photographers, all of which stick to the same overarching oceanic theme.

“These poems are layered by my lifelong coastal experiences – surfing, diving, fishing, sailing, and exploring our sea edges and beyond.”

The main photographer featured in the book is Kim Westerkov, the winner of five BBC/Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards, and a good friend to Fitzgibbon.

The pair met when they were attending Otago University in Dunedin, and it was actually Westerkov that inspired Fitzgibbon to start surfing.

A page from Terry Fitzgibbon's book.

Fitzgibbon said creating the book was a “labour of love” since the process took about two years.

While he knew he wanted to create a poetry book themed around the country’s coasts, he also knew that “books on poems are a hard sell”.

So, that’s when Fitzgibbon decided to pair each poem with an ocean-themed photo, to make the book more appealing, so he selected different poems to send to different photographers, and they sent back a couple of photos for him to choose from.

“It was a collaborative effort.”

Eventually, after a long publishing process, the book was done, and Fitzgibbon said it was absolutely worth the wait.

“I’m really happy with it.”

Fitzgibbon often gets ideas for his writing while walking along the beach, but sometimes they come to him early in the morning – so he keeps a notebook beside his bed so he can write them down.

He said a lot of his work is inspired by Brian Turner - a poet who is known for his pieces based on Dunedin.

“I love the beach like Brian loves Central Otago.”

Salt – Coastal Connections is out now, and available online.