The salt tang of the Pacific Ocean is a pervasive presence in this year's Best New Zealand Poems, the annual online survey of the liveliest and best poetry published by New Zealand writers in the preceding year, launched today by the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University. Professor Bill Manhire says the publication "breaks through the distribution barrier which prevents New Zealand poetry from reaching an international audience".The salt tang of the Pacific Ocean is a pervasive presence in this year's Best New Zealand Poems, the annual online survey of the liveliest and best poetry published by New Zealand writers in the preceding year, launched today by the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University. Professor Bill Manhire says the publication "breaks through the distribution barrier which prevents New Zealand poetry from reaching an international audience".The work in Best New Zealand Poems 06 has been selected by poets Anne Kennedy and Robert Sullivan, both of whom currently teach at the University of Hawai'i, and our island nature is evident in the poetry they have chosen. From the Cook Strait gales and Manawatu floods of David Eggleton's "The Weather Bomb" and the "dark snout" of Kapiti Island in Hinemoana Baker's "One" to Serie Barford's siapo-makers of Samoa and Karlo Mila's Tonga in mourning, Best New Zealand Poems 06 is afloat in the ocean where these islands swim together.

Powerful poems on illness, mortality and ancestors come from C K Stead, Michele Leggott, Jenny Bornholdt, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell and Andrew Johnston. And for the first time the anthology features digital poetry from Richard von Sturmer and Brian Flaherty.

In their introduction, Kennedy and Sullivan say they did their best "to scout the diverse ethnic and intellectual communities that New Zealand poets belong to", and their selection reflects the wide range of poetry communities at work here. Each poet has supplied a note on the poem that illuminates the circumstances of its composition, making Best New Zealand Poems a superb entry point for readers unfamiliar with the work of particular writers, and a treasure chest of information for students of New Zealand literature.

Professor Bill Manhire, Director of the International Institute of Modern Letters, says, "We feel that this publication is a real case where the internet has made possible an initiative which - in New Zealand - would simply not be viable in terms of conventional book publishing. Most of all, it breaks through the distribution barrier which prevents New Zealand poetry from reaching an international audience." The majority of visitors to the Best New Zealand Poems site come from overseas.