Bill Manhire was born in Invercargill in 1946. As a shy little boy he was taught by two All Blacks in Southland. He also started a children's library at his parents' pub in Clinton.
Sam Hunt is a performer. With him, the voice and the body become the musical instruments to perform the piece. The book is nowhere to be seen.
James Brown has been a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards three times.
National Poetry Day will be celebrated in Dunedin with a new event this year - five local poets will read their work at the historic Port Chalmers Library next week.
Sue Wootton lives in Dunedin. She recently attended the International Asia Pacific Poetry Festival in Vietnam.
National poetry day celebrating New Zealand's special, vibrant poetic voice - whether it is lyrics, odes, myths and legends, serious social commentary, contemplative or just plain good fun - is on July 27. Charmian Smith talks to a Dunedin poet whose recent book has been short-listed for the New Zealand Post Book Awards.
Three little books from three New Zealand poets. All of them are impassioned, wise and engaging, polished and confident. Grab all three. They are all short, punchy and excellent.
One Otago author is among the 20 finalists in this year's New Zealand Post Book Awards.
The cover of Harry Ricketts' new collection of poems has a picture of Raphael's Transfiguration with a couple of speech bubbles by Dylan Horrocks.
First prize in the Poems in the Waiting Room competition has gone to Dunedin's Emma Neale for "An Inward Sun", which judge Kay McKenzie Cooke, also of Dunedin, said was "a well-worked poem containing fresh, vivid images which continued to delight, no matter how many times I read it".
A Potato Sonnet: Jersey Bennes for Christmas - Carolyn McCurdie
Wilding Pines, Southland - Richard Reeve
A Tropical Gift (For Huberta) - Martha Morseth
That week they were gone.
HOKITIKA - David Eggleton
Lingua incognita - Sue Wootton
QUEEN OF THE CROWN From a painting by Andy McCready - Jenny Powell
A Poetry competition being held by Dunedin-based charity Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ) should become an annual event.
Photo opportunity - Fiona Farrell
New Zealand is a land full of poets. Sadly, many of them are forgotten. Some are neglected because of what seems fashionable at the time. Others are simply overlooked.
