Fresh feel for National Poetry Day

Dunedin (Tuesday, 20 August 2019) – Expect a fresh new approach to National Poetry Day in Dunedin on Friday.

Dunedin Public Libraries Events Coordinator Kay Mercer says they are hosting the event in association with the Otago/Southland Society of Authors, taking a new approach by having a selection of poets setting their work in a range of different spaces.

“Each poet has been given a space to write about and speak to. What they deliver will be a complete surprise.

“In the past we have created posters with some of the poetry on them but this year we won’t know what they have created until we hear it and that’s very exciting,” she says.

“We have a new group of organisers, led by Emer Lyons and Robyn Maree Pickens, and they are bringing fresh, young ideas to the event.”

Spaces being used include the Women's Pioneer Hall, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Laurel Project Space, The New Athenaeum Theatre, as well as non-built environments and online spaces.

The Dunedin events will be part of more than 150 expected to be held around the country in over 30 towns and cities.

“This is all about engaging with the public and getting them reading poetry and appreciating poets,” she says.

The poets for this year’s Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day in Dunedin are Molly Crighton, Lynley Edmeades, Claire Lacey, Sally McIntyre, Shereen Murugayah, Adam Stewart, and Susan Wardell.

The event will get underway at 5.30pm Friday 23 August, with a DJ set by Topaz in the Dunningham Suite, 4th Floor, Dunedin City Library.

All are welcome. The event is free.
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