Te Rōpū Toikupu o Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Society Presents . . .

Bugs Sullivan

Bugs Sullivan is an aspiring poet and climate activist living in Ōtautahi, with a growing interest in the experimental and bizarre. She is a student at Cashmere High School and has attended Write On School for Young Writers for 4 years. In her free time she enjoys reading, frequenting the city centre, and walking around in the forest at night.

Erik Kennedy

Gail Ingram

Gail Ingram writes from the Port Hills of Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, and is author of three collections of poetry. Her latest, anthology (n.) a collection of flowers (Pūkeko Publications 2024), is a weaving of poetry and local botanical and mountain art. Her second and third collections Some Bird (2023) and Contents Under Pressure (2019) were published by Sudden Valley Press and Pūkeko Publications respectively. Her work has been widely published in local and international journals and anthologies, such as Poetry New Zealand, Landfall, The Spinoff, Atlanta Review, Cordite Poetry Review and Barren Magazine. Awards include winning the Caselberg (2019) and New Zealand Poetry Society (2016) international poetry prizes. She is managing editor of NZ Poetry Society’s flagship magazine a fine line and has edited for Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction and takahē magazine. She teaches at Write On School for Young Writers and holds a Master of Creative Writing (Distinction). Credit: Mick Ingram

Jeni Curtis

Jeni Curtis (she/her) is a Ōtautahi Christchurch writer who has been widely published.  She was co-winner of the Heritage New Zealand poetry award 2021, and runner up in the Canterbury Poets Collective John O’Connor First Book Award 2022. Her poem, “talking of goldfish,” set to music by Janet Jennings features in 21x21 by Jenny Wollerman. Her poetry collection stone men is published by Sudden Valley Press in June 2023.

Joanna Preston

Joanna Preston is a Tasmanaut poet, editor, publisher and creative writing tutor. Her first collection, The Summer King, (Otago University Press, 2009) won both the 2008 Kathleen Grattan Award and the 2010 Mary Gilmore Award. Her second collection, tumble (Otago University Press, 2021) won the Mary and Peter Biggs Prize for Best Poetry Collection at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Joanna is also ringmistress of The Poetry Class, an editor at Sudden Valley Press, and a tutor at Hagley Writers’ Institute.

Philomena Johnson

Philomena Johnson lives between the river and the sea in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. She attended the Hagley Writers’ Institute in 2017, where her portfolio was short-listed for the Margaret Mahy Award. Philomena’s poetry has appeared in The Quick Brown Dog, The London Grip, takahē, Fuego, a fine line and in the anthologies broken lines / in charcoal and Voiceprints 4. She tutors at the School for Young Writers and is currently working on a verse novel for middle grade readers. In 2024 Philomena won The John O’Connor First Book Award for her manuscript not everything turns away. Judge Harry Ricketts described the collection as quick with observation and insight, […] poems which will make you pause and reflect as you read, and will continue to work on you long after you’ve closed the book. Philomena’s book will be published by Sudden Valley Press and launched on National Poetry Day 23rd August 2024.

Robert Sullivan

Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu) is the author of nine books of poetry as well as a graphic novel and an award-winning book of Māori legends for children. He co-edited, with Albert Wendt and Reina Whaitiri, the anthologies of Polynesian poetry in English, Whetu Moana (2002) and Mauri Ola (2010), and an anthology of Māori poetry with Reina Whaitiri, Puna Wai Kōrero (2014), all published by Auckland University Press. Among many awards, he received the 2022 Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for a distinguished contribution to New Zealand poetry. He is associate professor of creative writing at Massey University. His new collection, Hopurangi / Songcatcher, was launched in Christchurch this year.