Carrying the Tokotoko: Notes from the Poet Laureate

Kia ora koutou

It’s a great privilege to be the Aotearoa New Zealand Poet Laureate. I’ve greatly enjoyed spending time in communities from Northland to Te Wai Pounamu.

Just last month, I received the beautifully carved tokotoko from tohunga whakairo Jacob Scott at a ceremony at our National Library, just in front of the exhibition He Tohu, which contains the original copies of te Tiriti o Waitangi, He Whakaputanga, and the New Zealand Women’s Suffrage Petition.

Robert Sullivan and his tokotoko. Photo by Jo Moore.

Some thanks

Below are a few photos from the pōwhiri with my partner Angelina Young, my whānau and friends, and the support of our Puketeraki rūnaka with whanaunga Waiariki Parata Taiapa. There were so many others (aroha mai for not naming everyone) such as:

• fellow poets and writers

• colleagues from Massey University

• staff of the National Library and Archives New Zealand, including Chief Archivist Anahera Morehu

• John and Wendy Buck from Te Mata Estate, who supported the laureateship from its beginning

• the wonderful Dame Fiona Kidman

• Catherine Robertson, Carla Crosbie and Marty Smith from the Hawke's Bay Readers and Writers Festival, who have also done so much to support the laureateship

• the tangata whenua of Matahiwi Marae in the Hawke's Bay, Aramanu Ropiha and Beryl Armstrong, who came from Matahiwi that day

• Elizabeth Caffin, who was my first publisher at that amazing poetry powerhouse of Auckland University Press

• Tamahou Temara, Tumu Whakarae of Toi Māori Aotearoa

• previous laureates Chris Tse and Selina Tusitala Marsh (the Commonwealth Poet Laureate)

• mana whenua for Te Whanganui a Tara, Te Āti Awa, whose heartening kōrero and waiata kept us wrapped in wairua and mauri.

It was really great also to see Peter Ireland from the National Library recognised for his keen support of the laureates by the National Librarian, Rachel Esson, who also has my heartfelt thanks.

With members of our whānau. Photo by Jo Moore.

  

During the pōwhiri with whānau. Waiariki Parata Taiapa is to the right. Photo by Jo Moore.

  

Esteemed tohunga whakairo Jacob Scott during the presentation of the tokotoko. Photo by Jo Moore.

Poetry connections

I think one of the most moving things about the laureateship is learning about how poetry connects people to their own family members. At Auckland Museum last Anzac Day, it was fantastic to hear poetry from young people about their understanding of war and the importance of the sacrifices made, and their themes flowed into the work from older people there reflecting on the many contributions of our families.

It was the Museum’s twentieth and last Anzac Day poetry competition, so it was very special to join them.

Soon it’ll be my honour to give the annual memorial lecture for the Southland historian, biographer, novelist, poet and Rhodes Scholar, Dan Davin, in Invercargill. I’ll focus on my own good memories of Invercargill and the Catlins, and the discoveries I make in reading Davin’s work.

Last month I spoke at the Science Communication Association of New Zealand Conference about the lives of two trees — the original tōtara at Tōtara Estate in North Otago, and the other in Northland, a kauri. I chose them because they’re both places that our family is from.

The layers of the past provided the poems and the reflections on things like deforestation due to human arrival, the emotional power of poetry to describe our living world, and the many interrelationships the natural world has with our own wellbeing and connections. There is great hope in noticing these relationships at big and small scales.

Creative collaborations

I’ve recently written poems for an exhibition and publication by my esteemed friend the artist Maureen Lander whose new art installation will be at Auckland City Art Gallery later this year. I also wrote a children’s book for the artist Reuben Paterson’s beautiful crystal waka exhibit at the gallery’s entrance called Guide Kaiārahi.

It was also my honour to write a libretto for a choral work for the 70th anniversary celebrations of The Edgecumbe Choir in Whakatāne, which will be sung by the choir next year. The choral work is by composer Jeremy Woodside.

Sharing poetry

For Poetry Day, I ran a poetry workshop at Kerikeri Library in the Bay of Islands. We did exercises based on what we know about this beautiful world. This was run in conjunction with the New Zealand Poetry Society (NZPS). I did something similar for their Northland Writers and Poets Festival last year with Dame Fiona Kidman.

It’s also been a joy to work with Ngāti Manu whānau on a poetry collection with the support of NZPS. I also run poetry circles at the Ōamaru Library each Monday at lunchtime, and I learn a lot from our group as we share poems that inspire us.

In February I’ll be taking part in the Dawn Service for Waitangi Day at the Treaty grounds. It reminds me of my many times there as a child, and as an adult. Our tūpuna signed with the mark of his ngū moko, which is a tattoo mark on his nose. I like to think that he put his breath into te Tiriti o Waitangi in greeting.

Ka nui te mihi.

Korekore Rawea: Karakia (Low energy)

When we close our eyes
in mihi to the divine
it makes us feel our tūpuna
our whenua
that we all
take a breath
in thanks
we shall not hate
that we will, love
reach out
and support one another
in shared
karakia

 — Robert Sullivan

 (from Hopurangi Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka. Auckland University Press)

 For this poem, apart from the spiritual blessing of karakia, and its power to heal, I was also thinking about the Palestinian doctor, Izzeldin Abuelaish and his book I Shall Not Hate. I had the privilege of meeting him during an Auckland Writers’ Festival. His message of reconciliation is powerful.

Welcome to Robert Sullivan, our new Poet Laureate

The National Library is delighted to celebrate National Poetry Day by announcing Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu) of Ōamaru as the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2025-2025.

Robert Sullivan, New Zealand Poet Laureate. Photo supplied. 

Gina Smith, Acting Te Pouhuaki | National Librarian described Robert’s appointment as recognition for a distinctive and important voice of poetry in Aotearoa New Zealand. ‘Robert amplifies Māori and Pacific voices in thoughtful engagement with complex cultural narratives. He has great standing as a poet, teacher and scholar, he holds considerable māna and leads with grace and humility.’  

On learning of his appointment as Poet Laureate, Sullivan reflected, ‘I’m very grateful to receive this laureateship. It recognises the continuum of Māori poets who are publishing such rich, vibrant work. There are too many to name all of the Māori poets writing, composing and performing today but they inspire me through seeing our tupuna in their soulful words.

Many poets and writers helped me with my poetry and writing, and especially Maualaivao Albert Wendt, Michele Leggott, Anne Kennedy and Witi Ihimaera, but it’s my mum and dad who did the most. This is such a great boost. I stand on their shoulders, and the shoulders of all our tūpuna, Māori and Pākeha.

I’d like to mention the poets who have passed away who inspired me too, especially Hone Tuwhare, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, and Keri Hulme.’

From its inception as the Te Mata Estate Winery Laureate Award in 1996 through to 2007 the Laureates were Bill Manhire, Hone Tuwhare, Elizabeth Smither, Brian Turner and Jenny Bornholdt. Since 2007, when the National Library took over the appointment of the Poet Laureate, the Laureates have been Michele Leggott, Cilla McQueen, Ian Wedde, Vincent O’Sullivan, CK Stead, Selina Tusitala Marsh, David Eggleton and Chris Tse.

The value of the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award is $150,000 over the three-year period. The Laureate receives $40,000 per year, with the balance held by the National Library to cover the cost of the Laureate’s tokotoko, and to support their travel and participation in literary events.

Biography

Robert was inspired by his schoolteacher in Year 6 (Standard 4) at Onehunga Primary School, Mrs Nair, to write poetry. “She got the class to lie on the school field and write poems about clouds. My cloud poem was about an alligator, and a boy lying in the grass watching it glide by. It made me realise that a poem could take me somewhere else, to another world, and I could write it.”

Robert Sullivan’s nine books of poetry include the bestselling Star Waka (Auckland University Press, 1999), reprinted five times, translated into German (Mana Verlag), and short-listed for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards (2000). His newest collection of poems, the bestselling Hopurangi / Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka, was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

His epic, Captain Cook in the Underworld was a finalist in the Poetry Category for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards (2003). It is also an oratorio for the composition by John Psathas, Orpheus in Rarohenga, performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Orpheus Choir of Wellington for the choir’s fiftieth anniversary. Robert’s poem ‘Kawe Reo / Voices Carry’ is installed in bronze in front of the Auckland City Library. His first collection, Jazz Waiata, won the Jessie McKay PEN (NZ) Best First Book Award in 1991.

As an editor, he worked with Maualaivao Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri on the groundbreaking anthologies of Polynesian poetry in English, Whetu Moana and Mauri Ola. The first anthology won the Montana New Zealand Book Award for Reference and Anthology (2004). He also edited with Reina Whaitiri the major anthology of Māori poets in English, Puna Wai Kōrero which won the Creative Writing category in the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards in 2015. His most recent anthology is Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology edited with Janet Newman (2024).

His poetry appears in numerous literary magazines and journals in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Other awards include The Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for a distinguished contribution to New Zealand Poetry (2022), Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Hawaii (2001), and the University of Auckland Literary Fellowship (1998).

As well as poetry, his children’s book of Māori myths and legends, Weaving Earth and Sky, illustrated by Gavin Bishop, listed as a Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book (2003), won the Non-Fiction category and the New Zealand Post Children’s Book of the Year (2003).  

His graphic novel Maui: Legends of the Outcast, illustrated by Chris Slane, was shortlisted for the LIANZA Russell Clark Medal. 

Robert has participated in many writing festivals throughout New Zealand including Kupu: the Māori Writers Festival, the Auckland Writers Festival, Christchurch Word, New Zealand Readers and Writers Week, Wellington’s Verb Festival, Dunedin Writers Festival, Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival, Northland Writers’ Festival, and Words on Wheels (WoW) in the South Island, and the Honouring Words Indigenous Writers tour of the North Island.

His international festivals include the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Vancouver, Calgary, Mumbai, Honolulu, and Toronto writers’ festivals, and Taipei International Book Exhibition.

He has a PhD in English (supervised by Selina Tusitala Marsh), an MA Hons (supervised by Maualaivao Albert Wendt), and a BA in English and Māori Studies all from the University of Auckland. He also has a Diploma in Library and Information Studies (Victoria University) and a Diploma in Teaching (Waikato University).   Robert studied also at Newmarket Primary, Onehunga Primary, Manukau Intermediate (Royal Oak), and Auckland Grammar.

He worked as a librarian at Auckland Public Library, and the University of Auckland Library. He then worked as an academic focusing on creative writing at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Manukau Institute of Technology, and Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa where he is Associate Professor in Creative Writing.

Currently he is President of the New Zealand Poetry Society / Te Rōpū Toikupu o Aotearoa.

Robert belongs to Ngāpuhi Nui Tonu (Ngāti Hau, and Ngāti Manu), and Kai Tahu (Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki), with affiliations to Ngāti Raukawa, and Ngāi Tai. He is also of Irish, Scottish and English descent. He lives in Oāmaru on the coastline known as Te Tai o Āraiteuru.

Some final words

If I had to pick just one word to sum up my term as Poet Laureate, it would be: community. Everything that I’ve done or experienced in the role over the past three years has been possible because of people who see the power of poetry to bring people together – whether it’s in a creative writing workshop for students or including a poetry reading on the line-up of a musical festival.

Poetry is written from a poet’s individual perspective and experience, but once their poems are released into the world, in print or from a stage, they take on a life of their own. I’ve seen the spark in people’s eyes when a poem connects with them or they experience poetry in a way that changes their perceptions of what’s ‘allowed’. Whether that spark is a moment of delight or recognition, it’s the unmistakable power of words and storytelling to help us to make sense of ourselves and the world.

We’re so lucky to have a thriving poetry scene in Aotearoa. Visit one of our independent bookshops and you’ll see shelves and tables bulging under the weight of new poetry releases. There are regular open mics, slams and readings in many towns and cities, and plenty of places to find poetry online and in print. Read NZ’s 2025 National Reading Survey found that 32% of adults in Aotearoa have read a poetry book all or part way through in the past 12 months, a significant increase from 25% in 2021. Ka rawe!

However, we can’t take any of this for granted. It’s been a tough time for artists and creatives: funding is scarce, venues are shutting down and audiences are understandably being more cautious with where and how they spend their money. There’s also A.I.’s impact on the creative sectors, which has already highlighted concerns with copyright and ethics. Despite these challenges, none of this diminishes the value of the arts and how they contribute to health and well-being.

It’s been a privilege to travel around Aotearoa and the world sharing my work, connecting with audiences, and promoting the incredible poets and poetry we have in this country. Every conversation, interaction and event has changed my own ideas about poetry and reenergised my love for it.

Although my focus has been on Aotearoa’s poets and poetry, I’ve also met many international poets during my term. I’ve shared stages with people whose work I’ve admired for years, like UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Warsan Shire, Sandra Cisnero and Nicholas Wong, as well as poets previously unknown to me like Andre Bagoo, Babs Gons, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, Felipe Franco Munhoz, Phodiso Modirwa, Kim Moore and Joanna Yang.

Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2023 event, Te Papa, August 2024.
Pictured left to right are: Cadence Chung, Jackson McCarthy, Hannah Mettner,
Leah Dodd, Sinead Overbye, Arihia Latham, Chris Tse, Emma Shi,
Isla Huia, harold coutts and Tracey Slaughter

It’s impossible to thank everyone who has supported me during my term, but I would like to mention a few people: Rachel Esson and the team at the National Library for welcoming me as part of their whānau; Peter Ireland for his sage advice and care; Zoe Roland, Reuben Love, David Vieco and everyone who has assisted with the many events we’ve put on; Phantom Billstickers; Jacob Scott; Matahiwi Marae; Te Mata Estate; and Aotearoa’s incredible independent book stores.

I also want to thank the many festivals, event organisers and organisations who have invited me to perform or speak. Thank you for your hospitality and for creating spaces for poets to shine.

To the poets I met on my travels – it’s been a joy to read your work and perform alongside you, seeing first hand the ways you bring your stories and truths into the light.

Finally, I wouldn’t have made it through the past three years without the love and support of my parents, family, friends and colleagues. Thank you for putting up with my absences and for making sure I took time out to recharge.

It’s been an honour to be New Zealand’s Poet Laureate. Nothing could’ve prepared me for the incredible adventures I’ve had over the past three years. I wish whoever steps into the role all the best – I can’t wait to see all the amazing things they’ll do during their term.

Keep writing, keep reading and keep sharing. Poetry can be found everywhere you look, especially where you least expect it. And don’t forget to visit the National Poetry Day website to see what’s happening near you this week.

Until we meet again... mā te wā.

Audience at the ‘(Re)geneartion next: The Poet Laureate steps down’ event. Photo by Chris Tse. 

Celebrate New Zealand’s poetic talent: Nominate a New Zealand Poet Laureate

Kia hiwa ra!
Kia hiwa ra!

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa is seeking nominations for the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award 2025–2028.

Poetry is a quintessential part of New Zealand art and culture, and through the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award the government acknowledges the value that New Zealanders place on poetry.

The National Librarian Te Pouhuaki will appoint the New Zealand Poet Laureate after reviewing nominations and seeking advice from the New Zealand Poet Laureate Advisory Group.

Nominees must have made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand poetry, and be an accomplished and highly regarded poet who continues to publish new work. They must also be a strong advocate for poetry and be able to fulfil the public role required of a Poet Laureate. The role includes engaging with a wide range of people and inspiring New Zealanders to read and write poetry.

Candidates are expected to reside in New Zealand during their tenure as Laureate.

The term of appointment for the next Poet Laureate will run until August 2028.

• Nominate a New Zealand Poet Laureate
• Read about the New Zealand Poet Laureate

Nominations close on Wednesday, 30 July 2025 at 5pm.

The next New Zealand Poet Laureate will be announced on Friday 22 August 2025.

Enquiries about the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award can be directed to Peter.Ireland@dia.govt.nz

Brian Turner ONZM (1944–2025)

The poetry of Brian Turner is a paean to the local; poetry grounded in a particular setting, but redolent of universal meaning. As an epigram for his poem Just this, Turner quotes the American poet and environmental activist Gary Snyder:

Find your place on the planet, dig in,
and take responsibility from there.

The ‘place’ for much of Turner’s poetry is the landscape of Central Otago, which is where he lived from 1999. The tiny settlement of Oturehua, in the Ida valley of the Maniototo river, was where Brian Turner dug in.

Brian Turner reading at the Circle of Laureates event, National Library, 2016.
Photographer: Mark Beatty

An English translation of Oturehua is ‘the place where the summer star stands still’ a perfect setting for a poet whose lifelong quest involved trying to ‘find and hold on to anything that’s struck me as heartfelt and constant, something that seems durable and likely enduring.’

In poems of plain-speaking eloquence, which ‘crackled with the intensity of their sheer power of observation’ Brian Turner reminded us to pay careful attention to nature, to protect it from the depredations of the heedless and to be enchanted by the rhythms of rivers and hills.

The National Library acknowledges with sadness the passing of Brian Turner, a much-loved figure in New Zealand Literature and in the promotion of environmental awareness.

Brian, who died on 5 February, was Te Mata Estate Winery Poet Laureate between 2003 and 2005. In November last year he was made New Zealand Poet Laureate of Nature for his lifetime’s work in poetry and activism, fighting for and celebrating the natural world. 

Place

Once in a while
you may come across a place
where everything
seems as close to perfection
as you will ever need.
And striving to be faultless
the air on its knees
holds the trees apart,
yet nothing is categorically
thus, or that, and before the dusk
mellows and fails
the light is like honey
on the stems of tussock grass,
and the shadows are mauve birthmarks
on the hills.

— Brian Turner
From, All That Blue Can Be, John McIndoe, 1989

Brian Turner — New Zealand Poet Laureate of Nature

On November this year, the Central Otago Environmental Society awarded poet Brian Turner the honour of New Zealand Poet Laureate of Nature in recognition of his lifetime’s work in poetry and activism, on behalf of the natural world.

Brian in the grounds of Dunstan hospital in Central Otago.
 Photographer: Jillian Sullivan

The National Library was delighted to support this initiative:

‘Brian’s whakapapa of speaking to and of the environment in New Zealand is founded on a lifetime’s presence in our landscape, both the physical and literary forms of it. He is much loved, respected and recognised in these spheres and to acknowledge that with this honour is apt and fitting.’

On sharing the news with Paula Green, Paula created a celebratory post about Brian for Poetry Shelf.

Brian Turner was the fourth Te Mata Estate Winery Poet Laureate between 2003 and 2005.

Read the Poetry Shelf post

Launching ‘Still Is’

On Friday 21 June, the National Library hosted the launch of former Poet Laureate Vincent O’Sullivan’s last poetry collection Still Is, published less than two months after he passed away in April.

Book cover of Still Is (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2024).

The evening was a heartwarming celebration of Vincent’s life and career, with contributions from Vincent’s family and those who knew him well. Te Herenga Waka University Press’ Fergus Barrowman shared lively anecdotes that highlighted Vincent’s wit and talent, shedding light on what it was like to work closely with him for 40 years.

I was honoured to be asked to read at the launch alongside former Laureates Bill Manhire and Jenny Bornholdt, and poets Gregory O’Brien and Diana Bridge who all spoke movingly about their friendships with Vincent. We each read a poem from Still Is as well as one of our own poems to complement Vincent’s. I wrote a new poem for the occasion in response to Vincent’s poem ‘The Trouble With Windows’.

Subtitles missing

Lately I have become untethered from stillness.
Here, in my little brown house caught in the shadow
of a neighbouring tower block, every room
rattles my patience. The tui and the sparrows
frolick at my kitchen window. I have never been
able to read their intent. I watch my neighbours
watch the day go by, each window a screen
of unquiet resolution. I feel as if we are
collectively haunted by some outdated expression
of freedom because the day is a dream we dream
when we have no other way to take flight.
On this side of the glass the view is idyllic
and industrious: every car on the motorway
is a passing vignette and every container ship
works against silken blue. Across the harbour,
the Eastern ranges remain staunch in their place.
Time collects on the wind, unbothered, while
my attention divides and scatters itself again
and again in search of an elusive synchronicity.
My imagination’s fieldnotes are entirely made up
of subtitles for every window I look into or
out of. Nearly all of them are questions, like
‘How can we prove what never occurred?’
and ‘What waits for us on the other side?’.
Like daybreak, the tui and the sparrows reappear.
They ask for so little. A lesson, surely, given
we are prone to asking for what must be earned.

— Chris Tse

Chris at the Still Is book launch and reading. Image credit Marcelo Duque Cesar.

A tribute to Vincent O’Sullivan (1937–2024)

He is one of us, he is one of our own.
He bears the coasts, the mountains for us,
He calls to the north and the south on our behalf,
To the east and the west, he carries the voice of his people.

Nō tātou ake ia, he tangata ia nō tātou tonu
Ka wahā e ia ngā takutai, ngā maunga, mō tātou,
Ka karanga ia ki te raki, ki te tonga mō tātou.
Ki te rāwhiti, ki te hauāuru rā anō, ka kawea e ia te reo o tōna iwi. 

(Translation: Piripi Walker) 

These words were written by Vincent for Requiem for the Fallen, a collaborative work with his close friend, the composer Ross Harris, which was performed at Old St Paul’s for the New Zealand Arts Festival in 2014. These lines seem apt, as the National Library shares its sense of loss to New Zealand letters, with Vincent’s death in Dunedin on 28 April.

Vincent O’Sullivan. Photo by Helen O’Sullivan

The relationship the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library had with Vincent lies at the heart of our work, and evidence of this abounds. It includes his research here as pre-eminent scholar of Katherine Mansfield, notably producing his co-edition of the five volumes of Mansfield’s letters with Margaret Scott between 1984 and 2008. The Turnbull Library is also home to Vincent’s literary papers, at MS-Group-1526.

In 2013 Vincent was appointed New Zealand Poet Laureate. He made his intentions clear early on: ‘I don’t think many prescriptions for poetry stand up apart from one – if it isn’t individual, if it’s not “the cry of its occasion”, then why aren’t we doing something else’ His time as Laureate was marked by a generosity towards and recognition of fellow poets in New Zealand and around the world, with a special place reserved for the voices of the oppressed poet.

His volume of collected poetry Being Here, was launched at the National Library in April 2015 and we have chosen to include its title poem to represent his achievements, his profundity and elegance. The photo of Vincent was taken in Italy by his wife Helen.

Requiescat in pace, Vincent.

— Peter Ireland, for the National Library

Being Here

It has to be a thin world surely if you ask for
an emblem at every turn, if you cannot see bees
arcing and mining the soft decaying galaxies
of the laden apricot tree without wanting
symbols – which of course are manifold – symbols
of so much else? What’s amiss with simply the huddle
and glut of bees, with those fuzzed globes
by the hundred and the clipped-out sky
beyond them and the leaves that are black
if you angle the sun directly behind them,
being themselves, for themselves? I hold out
my palms like the opened pages of a book
and you pile apricots on them stacked three
deep, we ask just who can we give them to
round here who hasn’t had their whack of apricots
as it is? And I let my hands tilt and the plastic
bag that you hold rustles and plumps with their
rush, I hold one back and bite into it and its
taste is the taste of the colour exactly, and this
hour precisely, and memory I expect is storing
for an afternoon far removed from here
when the warm furred almost weightlessness
of the fruit I hold might very well be a symbol
of what’s lost and we keep wanting, which after
all is to crave the real, the branches cutting
across the sun, your standing there while I tell you,
‘Come on, you have to try one!’, and you do,
and the clamour of bees goes on above us, ‘This
will do’, both of us saying, ‘like this, being here!’

— Vincent O’Sullivan

Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2023 selected by Chris Tse

Since 2001 the International Institute of Modern Letters has been home to Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems. There is a guest editor for each selection and in 2023, this was our Poet Laureate, Chris Tse. Our Poets Laureate feature prominently in editors to date and Chris joined Laureate alumni Elizabeth Smither, Ian Wedde, Vincent O’Sullivan, Jenny Bornholdt, Selina Tusitala Marsh, and David Eggleton in accepting this rewarding if daunting assignment.

Of the 25 poems (from nearly 4000!) to make the cut, Chris observed:

‘Individually, these 25 poems are tender, aggressive, funny, angry, and contemplative. Collectively, they emphasise the power of poetry to communicate with an open heart without fear of retribution. These are the poems that surprised and delighted me the most, that made me pause to sit in my own discomfort or revel in another poet’s joy. Above all, they’re the poems I thought other people need to read.’

To read Chris’s full introduction and to read (and hear some of) the poems, and to spend time looking back down the years of New Zealand poetry in this century, have a look at the Best New Zealand poems website.

Thank you, Chris, a job well done!

Peter Ireland
for the National Library