Guest poet: Airini Beautrais
Guest musician: Maggie Cocco
Open mic.
Emcee: Rhona

Koha please for our wonderful artists.

First-time readers are warmly welcomed and encouraged!

When: Tuesday (21/7/26), 7.30 pm -10.30 pm
Where: 39 Bar & Café, Ponsonby Road

Guest poet

Airini Beautrais writes poetry, fiction and non fiction. She is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Salt Quilt (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2026). She is also the author of the collection of short fiction, Bug Week, which won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham NZ Book Awards in 2021, and the essay collection The Beautiful Afternoon, for which she won the Janet Frame Literary Trust Award. She lives in Whanganui.

Guest musician

Hailing from metro Detroit, Maggie Cocco’s dedication to exploring the depth, breadth, and profundity of music has seen her perform in stadiums with legacy artists, galleries with avante garde expressionists, and many people, places, and musics between. Driven by a commitment to her global community, Maggie Cocco Music offers patron subsidized Pay What You Can services and contributions to various arts and social justice movements and organizations, weaving her passions into the fabric of her work. An independent artist, Cocco is based in Northland, New Zealand where she composes and runs community music programming between tours.