Ms Wootton was in Wanaka yesterday as part of a line-up of leading Otago-based poets for Montana Poetry Day celebrations.
Also taking part were Oturehua poet Brian Turner, regarded as one of New Zealand's most distinguished writers, and writer, poet and reviewer David Eggleton, of Dunedin.
Ms Wootton spent several hours with Wanaka Primary School pupils, reading poems and then writing them on the pavement outside the Wanaka Public Library.
Last night, more than 100 people attended the library's sold-out "Big Sky Poetry" session, featuring the three guest poets, and today Ms Wootton hosts a sold-out poetry workshop from 10am.
Ms Wootton said when she first starting writing she had to reconcile her desire for privacy with the expectation to perform.
"I tell myself I speak for the shy," she laughed.
Ms Wootton was thrilled with the depth of topics traversed by the children and that her sessions were so well received.
"It is really exciting to see young people taking it on board.
People ask me, `Is poetry dead?' No! Obviously not. You will never get rid of poetry and singing. It is part of human experience, the way we are in the world," she said.
Ms Wootton, who has published two collections of poetry - Magnetic South (Steele Roberts, 2008) and Hourglass (Steele Roberts, 2005) - now works as an editor, university research assistant and creative writing tutor.
Montana Poetry Day activities were held around New Zealand yesterday, including at the Dunedin Public Library last night, where Emma Neale, Michael Harlow, David Karena Holmes, Martha Morseth and Cy Mathews read their works.
The winner of the 2009 Montana Poetry Award poetry category ($5000) was Jenny Bornholdt, of Wellington, for her collection The Rocky Shore (Victoria University Press).
The award for the New Zealand Society of Authors Jessie Mackay best first book of poetry ($2500) went to Sam Sampson, of Auckland, for his collection Everything Talks (Auckland University Press).
The Rocky Shore will be judged alongside the winner of the fiction category of the Montana Book Awards for the ultimate prize, the Montana Medal for fiction or poetry, to be announced on Monday.
