Laura Williamson, Annabel Wilson and Liz Brezlin will be performing their poetry at shows in Wanaka, Dunedin and Lyttelton in early May, with an emphasis on fun.
"It won't be like English class," Williamson said.
"There's this preconception that poetry is a library thing, and none of us are really that way inclined. We're all about not taking it too seriously and not being too hallowed," Brezlin said.
All three women are published poets and authors who over the past decade have taken on different writing paths and challenges.
But in one way or another, they had all been attracted back to poetry.
"It's like the best game you can play with words. You can constrain them but also set them free. Every word in its place matters," Brezlin said.
"I'm a non-fiction writer, and to me poetry has always been the most perfect, precise form of non-fiction. Its truths are told through exactly the right words and no more words than are necessary," Williamson said.
The idea to take their poetry on tour came about because "we're always having ideas", Brezlin said.
"Liz, Annabel and myself have been organising and participating in open-mic poetry for about a decade in Wanaka. We've all released books in the last three to four years ... Having started out 10 years ago with nothing to show for ourselves, we now have something to show for ourselves, so we thought we'd tour," Williamson said.
The tour starts on May 4 at Good Rotations bike shop in their hometown of Wanaka, before heading to Dunedin on May 5 and finishing in Lyttelton on May 6.
Brezlin said the goal of the tour was simple.
"If you walked away after being entertained, we'd be so stoked with that."
