Students from Auckland schools will join a line-up of leading New Zealand poets for an event at the Auckland City Library on Friday, as part of National Poetry Day.

The students are young poets from the North Shore and from Otahuhu, who recently took part in poetry workshops as part of the Million Poems for Matariki community poetry project.

They will read their work along with poets Michele Leggott (the inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate), Selina Tusitala Marsh (who recently won an award for her first book of poetry), Paula Green and Kelly Malone, along with special guests Robert Sullivan and the current New Zealand Poet Laureate, Cilla McQueen, from the South Island.

This event has been organised by the Auckland City Library and the Michael King Centre as part of The Poetry Project, which is taking place in 2010.

As part of the project, poets have been visiting Auckland schools to lead poetry writing workshops to inspire young writers. A set of resource kits for community poetry projects are being developed.

The most recent workshops have been A Million Poems for Matariki, around the theme of Matariki, the Maori New Year. There will be school workshops on other themes later this year. The project has been funded by a grant from the North Shore City Council ARST fund for the arts. 

A Million Poems at the Library
When: Friday 30 July, 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm
Where: Ground Floor, Auckland City Library, Lorne St, Auckland
Entry: Free