Keith Newman
Ministry of Words Ltd
 Content creation that counts

 Keith Newman: Writer, freelance journalist, published author, poet,  b 1954.

Keith Newman is the author of Ratana Revisited (Reed, 2006), Ratana - the Prophet (2009), Connecting the Clouds - the Internet in New Zealand (2008). He has over the past 20-years established himself as one of New Zealand's foremost technology journalists writing for mainstream media about telecommunications, computing and the Internet.

He's a passionate advocate for New Zealand arts and music and has written poems, prose and song lyrics. He has produced and narrated over a dozen Musical Chairs programmes for Radio New Zealand and n 2007 won the Best Produced Music Programme at the New Zealand Radio Awards for his Blerta Years series broadcast on Radio New Zealand National.

In his capacity as a writer about technology and related subjects Keith has been recognised through a number of national awards.He was the sway.tech Hi-tech journalist of the year, PricewaterhouseCoopers hi-Tech Awards 2009. He was also Best Magazine Feature Writer, IC&T, Qantas Media Awards 2004; Telecommunications Users Association (TUANZ ) Journalist of the Year 2004, finalist 2005 and 2006 and finalist MPA Business Journalist of the Year 2005.

Keith was raised in Feilding in the central North Island of New Zealand. He trained as a reporter and from the age of 17 working on newspapers in Palmerston North and Waipukurau before joining the old NZBC as a radio and TV journalist. He spent two and a half years in Sydney managing and promoting rock bands before returning to Palmerston North in the late 1970s to start entertainment magazine Get Up 'n Go. He moved to Auckland in 1984 after a life changing Christian experience and worked again in radio, and as a feature writer and sub editor.

An interest in technology and its social impact led him to become involved in technology journalism. He was news editor with IDG publication Computerworld, editor of Network World and established PC Magazine in New Zealand in 1995-96. He has written columns for Australia's LAN Magazine and Computer Reseller News . In 1999 he was a finalist in the Most Controversial Australian Journalist category in the IT Writer's Awards.

He worked with the New Zealand Herald's Technology section for over two years. For three years he wrote a monthly column for Auckland's Metro magazine. He has written a monthly column for MIS Magazine. Until May 2001 when it shut down its New Zealand portal Keith was managing editor for the nz.internet.com site. He wrote a weekly column for the New Zealand Business Times until it closed in early 2002. He was a founding writer with Telecommunications Review. He currently writes for the Institute of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) magazine e.nz as well as taking on freelance contracts. 

Keith is author of five self-published poetry books: For People Only (1982 /sold out), Heartwars (1984), Reflections ... (1986/sold out), Pocket Poems #1 (1991) and Along the Valley Road (1992), Buzz Words (1997), an electronic Web book and an extended CD of rhythm 'n verse with Kiwi attitude.  A CD-Rom, Cleaning Out the Garage featuring 17 tracks was released in July 2003 along with a 48 page book of the same name (click the cover).

Keith has designed his lyrics and words to serve as a catalyst for revelation and change, to get people thinking about ordinary things in an extraordinary way and extraordinary things in an ordinary way.  He has run poetry workshops, performed regularly at Poets Live, The Temple in Auckland and at pubs, coffee bars and music festivals, working solo or with composer guitarist Gav Collinge as Wordworx. 

He's writing a book on the New Zealand music scene in the 60s & 70s based around the band Human Instinct. He has written liner notes for the Human Instinct Best Of CD and guitar legend Doug Jerebine's (Jesse Harper) Guitar Absolution CD released on Kissing Spell in the US as well as Billy T.K's Powerhouse Lost Tapes CD.

Keith has two children Olivia 21, and Miles 20. He and his wife artist Paula Novak moved from the bush in Titirangi in 2009 to the beach at Haumoana in Hawke's Bay where Paula now has her own art gallery. 

If you would like to commission Keith or his company Ministry of Words Ltd to write for you click here for more details or email: wordman@wordworx.co.nz

Wordworx index  Buzz Words Webzine Heartwars / Heartwarriors