New Zealand's national celebration of poetry, Montana Poetry Day, is on Friday 22 July 2005. Montana Poetry Day is the day for taking poetry off the page and out on to the streets, the airwaves, business meetings or the hairdresser's. So, where ever you happen to be on the day, just do it - read a poem! You don't have to be a poet to enjoy the day. All it takes is a love of verse - anything from the traditional stanza to haiku, hip hop and beyond - plus your favourite poem to hand and perhaps a microphone within your grasp.

Image: Witi Ihimaera will be performing in Auckland on NZ Poetry Day.
New Zealand's national celebration of poetry, Montana Poetry Day, is on Friday 22 July 2005. Montana Poetry Day is the day for taking poetry off the page and out on to the streets, the airwaves, business meetings or the hairdresser's. So, where ever you happen to be on the day, just do it - read a poem! You don't have to be a poet to enjoy the day. All it takes is a love of verse - anything from the traditional stanza to haiku, hip hop and beyond - plus your favourite poem to hand and perhaps a microphone within your grasp.

Image: Witi Ihimaera will be performing in Auckland on NZ Poetry Day.
This year's line up of events is shaping up to be as diverse and exciting as local poetry itself. Highlights include readings, an open mike and dinner at the Artform Cafe & Gallery in Waipu; an open mike session staring MP Lockwood Smith and Rodney Council's Mayor, John Law at Muldoon's in Orewa; readings by West Auckland poets and Mayor Bob Harvey at the Corban Estate Art Gallery; readings in Auckland City by some of New Zealand's best including Witi Ihimaera, Bob Orr and Anne Kennedy (winner of the Poetry category in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004); Belisha Belly Dancers interpreting poems by Rumi at the Tauranga City Library; pavement poetry in Wellington; cine-poems by new and emerging film makers at the New Zealand Film Archive; more readings from some of New Zealand's leading poets including Bill Manhire, Gregory O'Brien, current Te Mata Poet Laureate Jenny Bornholdt and James Brown in Wellington; a poetry wall in Christchurch; poetry mixed with jazz in Dunedin and the launch of Cilla McQueen's new collection of poetry in Gore, Southland.

The full line up of events is available online at www.montananzbookawards.co.nz

This year for the first time, the winner of the Poetry category in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards will be announced on Montana Poetry Day. The finalists are Fool Moon by Murray Edmond (Auckland University Press); Nice Morning for it, Adam by Vincent O'Sullivan (Victoria University Press) and The Red Tram by C K Stead (Auckland University Press). Edmond and Stead will also be reading from their collections at an Auckland event organised for Montana Poetry Day by nzepc (New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre).

Established in 1998, it has become one of the most anticipated celebrations on the arts calendar not only because New Zealanders have the opportunity to hear many of this country's finest contemporary poets reading and performing, but because it brings the promise of a poem for all.

Montana Poetry Day is organised in conjunction with the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and supported by an army of poetry enthusiasts and volunteers around the country. The principal sponsors of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and Montana Poetry Day are Montana wines and Creative New Zealand. The awards are managed by Booksellers New Zealand and supported by Book Publishers Association of New Zealand, the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT:

www.montananzbookawards.co.nz