OUR WORDS, OUR VOICES, OUR DAY: POETRY CONNECTS AOTEAROA ON 22 AUGUST

The full Calendar of Events for Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day 2025 is officially live today — unveiling a vibrant and wide-reaching celebration set to sweep Aotearoa on Friday 22 August. With over 110 events confirmed across the motu, from city slams to rural rhyme nights, this year’s line-up proves poetry is thriving in every corner of the country — and is more accessible than ever.

“Poetry is set to erupt across the country — in schools, pubs, galleries, libraries, and city streets,” says Richard Pamatatau, poet and spokesperson for the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa, the body behind this popular intiative, now in its 28th year. “The diversity and ambition of the planned events show that poetry is as vital and resonant as ever.”

From magnetic poetry walls to hip hop gigs, typewriter poems to inter-arts showcases, 2025 regional organisers have pulled out all the stops. “We invited event hosts to go bold – and they absolutely have,” says National Coordinator Gill Hughes. “It’s especially exciting to see so many first-time organisers joining us this year, with events stretching from Kerikeri to Invercargill and everything in between.”

An excellent example of this growing creativity is the new nationwide Great NZ Poetry Display-Off Challenge, with dozens of libraries and bookshops already signed up to create dazzling poetry displays. “It’s so heartening to see school libraries leading the charge,” says Gill. “Our rangatahi are hungry for poetry, and it’s coming to meet them.”

This month marks the launch of Phantom Billstickers’ 2025 Poem Poster Season — a bold initiative from our steadfast sponsor and long-time champion of taking poetry to the streets. Verses by leading local poets — including this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Award poetry finalists, Emma Neale, C.K.Stead, Robert Sullivan and Richard von Sturmer, as well as Ben Brown, Glenn Colquhoun and newcomer Taylor Grace, will appear in public spaces nationwide. “You don’t need to open a book to feel the impact of poetry,” says Phantom CEO Robin McDonnell. “A poem on the street can stop you in your tracks. As our founder Jim Wilson says: ‘You’re putting up words straight from the heart.’ That’s what National Poetry Day is all about.”

While Phantom’s posters bring poems directly to the public, the NPD Competition Calendar invites people to dive in and create poetry of their own. Celebrating voices across generations, the calendar includes popular favourites like the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook Student Poetry Competition and Poets XYZ — alongside new opportunities such as Toitū He Kāinga, which invites poets who whakapapa Māori to explore relationships with the built environment. There’s even a Blackout Poetry competition using pages from vintage Forest & Bird magazines.

A special event at the National Library on Wednesday 20 August will mark the close of Chris Tse’s powerful term as New Zealand Poet Laureate, with the next Laureate announced on Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day — Friday 22 August.

Also on Wednesday 20 August, poet and 2025 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry finalist Robert Sullivan will lead an online writing workshop presented in partnership with Australia’s Poetry Month. Participants will explore lyric voice, ancestral waka, and ecological connection.

The full programme of Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day events can be found here, but some highlights include:

International/Nationwide: Berlin returns with an evening of spoken word and song, featuring Angela Dwyer and Sandra Sarala reading Aotearoa poems abroad.

Northland: The inaugural Northland Writers, Readers & Poets Festival in Kerikeri features Dame Fiona Kidman, Robert Sullivan, and Cadence Chung. Elsewhere: pub poetry in Paihia, the Fast Fibres launch in Whangārei, and poetry with jazz in Mangawhai.

Auckland: Twelve libraries from Waiuku to Orewa host workshops and events. S P The Poet brings typewriter and chalk poetry to the CBD. Evening events include Time Out, The Open Book and My Little Library. Out west, a workshop in the Waitakere bush, and a Wordcore Wayfinders immersive show in Henderson.

Waikato: Poets guide through exhibitions at the Waikato Museum for Hamilton Book Month. There's youth workshops and a high-energy poetry slam in Ngāruawāhia by NGĀ ART.

Bay of Plenty: Rhymes & Lyrics returns to Tauranga, blending spoken word and hip hop. The Jam Factory assembles a motley poetry crew for a night of live performance.

Gisborne: Light Up the Mic at the local library brings poetic brightness to the first city to see the sun.

Hawkes Bay: Read, listen, and watch in Clive Square, Napier, with Napier Live Poets leading a community celebration of words.

Manawatū–Whanganui: Collaborative poetry across Dannevirke, Woodville, and Eketahuna Libraries. Evening poetry and pizza at Firebird Café, Levin.

Wellington Region: Fiona Kidman, Mary McCallum, and Madeleine Slavick share poems of place at Martinborough Bookshop. essa May Ranapiri guides students at Queen Margaret College. There’s blackout poetry in Petone, queer poets at elixir in Penoke, and star-studded lineups at The Undercurrent Bookstore.

Canterbury: Write On Young Writers run an online workshop;poetry with music at Waimate Library. Melanie McKerchar’s collection launches via Sudden Valley Press with a performance by Tusiata Avia. Poet Greg O’Connell leads workshops at the Diana Isaac Retirement Village and a playful one-hour show at Ronald McDonald House.

West Coast: Zine-making in Greymouth with the Grey District Youth Trust and silent reading and dress ups at Gloria of Greymouth. In Hokitika, the Westland Library hosts a poetry-friendly family evening.

Otago: Brian Turner is celebrated in Alexandra. The Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook is launched at Dunedin Library, followed by poetry and music in the evening with Emma Neale and Robert Sullivan. Workshops, slams, and lyric writing in Queenstown, Wanaka, and Frankton libraries.

Southland: Invercargill Library hosts six events including blackout poetry, a rhyme scavenger hunt, a slam workshop, and a special workshop with Emma Neale, 2025 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry winner.

Media contact:
Gill Hughes, Publicist
P: 021 944 499
E: hughespublicity@gmail.com