Wardini Books: Really, really, truly, madly, deeply looking forward to our The Cuba Press event this Thursday. Simon Sweetman is one of the guest writers and he’ll be talking about this volume of poetry, The Richard Poems, ‘a wild ride,’ says our Emma.
Join us – it’s free and fabulous and kicks off at Havelock North Library, 6pm, Thursday 12th Feb.
Two Tricksters, One Sequence
As far as I know, Māui and Billy T. never met.
I’m pretty sure Prince Tui Teka met Billy T.
And Sir Howard Morrison met Billy T.
I met Sir Howard once.
But Māui T. T. a T. never met Billy T.
So I’m e-introducing them.
Robert Sullivan
Robert Sullivan is Aotearoa New Zealand’s 14th Poet Laureate. He belongs to Ngāpuhi (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hau / Ngāti Kaharau) and Kāi Tahu (Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki) iwi and is also of Irish descent. He has won many literary awards. His most recent books are Hopurangi / Songcatcher (AUP) which was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award at the 2025 Ockham Book Awards, Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology coedited with Janet Newman (Otago University Press 2024) and a collection of essays coedited with Anna Jackson and Dougal McNeill, Te Whāriki: Reading Ten New Poets from Aotearoa (AUP 2025). Robert is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Massey University. He lives in Ōamaru.
To launch Poetry Shelf 2026, our current Poet Laureate Robert Sullivan has written a sequence called “Tidbits of Te Tiriti”. He wrote these Te Tiriti Tidbits in the voice of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There will be one published each day for this Waitangi Day weekend, and then a fifth one on Feb 17th, which is the day his Ngāti Manu tūpuna signed Te Tiriti.
Aotea Square
Enter a living canvas of words, movement, and sound.
A vibrant, multi-sensory spoken word experience celebrating Tāmaki Makaurau’s diverse poetry communities, hosted by MC Renee Liang – playwright, essayist, and poet.
Discover an eclectic mix of styles and voices: slam, Pasifika, te reo Māori, migrant perspectives, experimental works, and youth poets.
Unleash your own creativity! Prompting poets to create spontaneous poems in real time and poetry karaoke covering classic works.
Explore a kaleidoscope of activities: wander through chalk poetry, browse a market of books and zines, create blackout poetry on the Poet-tree, and craft visual poems with collage stickers and words..
Leather & Chains: My 1986 Diary by Kate Camp
‘Kate Camp reads the words of grownupchild Kate of 1986 – achingly funny, arch and louche, often shocking, always clever. And all of it threaded through with such pain and sadness and unsettling darkness, such yearning to be loved . . . I’ve often wondered about Kate Camp: how did she get to be so fearless, so peerless, so bold? The answer is in these pages.’ —Tracy Farr
Published 12 February 2026. Paperback, $40.
Te Tiriti and the Silvertop
As a child I hated
the silvertop milk
and its cream plugging
the shaft of the bottle.
The milk below
was watery.
Now I go out
of my way
to find
the bottles
which expire
on Feb 6th.
Robert Sullivan
Robert Sullivan is Aotearoa New Zealand’s 14th Poet Laureate. He belongs to Ngāpuhi (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hau / Ngāti Kaharau) and Kāi Tahu (Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki) iwi and is also of Irish descent. He has won many literary awards. His most recent books are Hopurangi / Songcatcher (AUP) which was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award at the 2025 Ockham Book Awards, Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology coedited with Janet Newman (Otago University Press 2024) and a collection of essays coedited with Anna Jackson and Dougal McNeill, Te Whāriki: Reading Ten New Poets from Aotearoa (AUP 2025). Robert is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Massey University. He lives in Ōamaru.
To launch Poetry Shelf 2026, our current Poet Laureate Robert Sullivan has written a sequence called “Tidbits of Te Tiriti”. He wrote these Te Tiriti Tidbits in the voice of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There will be one published each day for this Waitangi Day weekend, and then a fifth one on Feb 17th, which is the day his Ngāti Manu tūpuna signed Te Tiriti.
Double Book Launch: Bill Manhire and Jenny Bornholdt
11 February, 6pm, Unity Books Wellington
A joint launch of Lyrical Ballads by Bill Manhire and What to Wear by Jenny Bornholdt will be held at Unity Books Wellington. Two extraordinary poetry collections from two of Aotearoa’s most beloved former poet laureates, launched by Robyn Marsack – not to be missed! Free entry, all welcome. Please note: this is a changed date from the one advertised in our December newsletter!
Event by Auckland University Press
Southern Cross Garden Bar Restaurant
Join us to celebrate the launch of My Bourgeois Apocalypse, a new poetry collection by Helen Rickerby.
Friday 13 March
7pm
The Guest Room, out the back of the Southern Cross Garden Bar Restaurant
39 Abel Smith Street
Te Aro, Wellington
The book will be launched by Anna Jackson, with a reading by Helen.
In the spirit of the collection’s hybrid collage-essay-memoir form, this is a launch-cum-dance party, with music featured in the book playing throughout the night (mostly from the 80s). So bring your dancing shoes!
Books will be available for purchase on the night thanks to Unity Wellington.
About the book: https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/my-bourgeois…/
Event by Wairarapa Word, Carterton Library and Almo’s Books
Carterton Library, 50 Holloway St, Wairarapa
Duration: 4 hr
3pm – Poetry Reading: Love Actually
Open to the public.
Perhaps every poem is a love poem, including Dr Karlo Mila’s recent political poetry. Karlo will read some favourites and speak to how love poems have propelled her creative practice.
1pm – Creative Workshop: Re-membering ourselves through poetry
Registration required.
How does place shape and create us? In this workshop, we’ll write a poem grounded in place, memory and personal identity. We’ll reach into the past in a multisensory way, generating a poem that we can return to again and again and remember who we are, and why.
Places are limited. For ages 14+.
Bring your laptop/tablet/notebook.
Registration required. Please email: events.waiword@gmail.com.
Please wait for confirmation.
Dr Karlo Mila MNZM
Karlo Mila is a New Zealand-born poet of Tongan and Pākehā descent with ancestral connections to Samoa. She founded the leadership programme Mana Moana and has authored three books of poetry: ‘Dream Fish Floating’ won NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry Award; ‘A Well Written Body’ with Delicia Sampero; and ‘Goddess Muscle’, all with Huia Publishers.
For more about the author: www.karlomila.com
Wairarapa Word
Wairarapa Word has been offering a monthly literary programme since 2012. To receive our e-newsletters, please email: events.waiword@gmail.com
This 2-part programme is presented by Wairarapa Word, with support from Carterton Library, Huia Publishers, Almo’s Books and Wairarapa Events Centre.
Te Tiriti Says Mōrena
I felt cheesed off by the oral hearings
about me. I felt a little deracinated
to borrow a French word from Rimbaud
who wrote Un saison en enfer—deracinated
to see my innards unravelled, to stamp
on my first second and third clauses
and even the spoken spiritual one.
So I bought myself the lovely drip coffee maker
with the timer in the Briscoes sale
to wake with a cuppa in the morning.
Robert Sullivan
Robert Sullivan is Aotearoa New Zealand’s 14th Poet Laureate. He belongs to Ngāpuhi (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hau / Ngāti Kaharau) and Kāi Tahu (Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki) iwi and is also of Irish descent. He has won many literary awards. His most recent books are Hopurangi / Songcatcher (AUP) which was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award at the 2025 Ockham Book Awards, Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology coedited with Janet Newman (Otago University Press 2024) and a collection of essays coedited with Anna Jackson and Dougal McNeill, Te Whāriki: Reading Ten New Poets from Aotearoa (AUP 2025). Robert is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Massey University. He lives in Ōamaru.
To launch Poetry Shelf 2026, our current Poet Laureate Robert Sullivan has written a sequence called “Tidbits of Te Tiriti”. He wrote these Te Tiriti Tidbits in the voice of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There will be one published each day for this Waitangi Day weekend, and then a fifth one on Feb 13th, which is the day his Ngāti Manu tūpuna signed Te Tiriti.
NZ Poetry Shelf 