Poetry Day: Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry

For National Poetry Day join Unity Books and Massey University Press to celebrate 'Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry' by Paula Green.

Paula will introduce readings from carina gallegos, Stefanie Lash, Therese Lloyd, Maria McMillan and Manon Revuelta. All welcome. A big thank you to the sponsors, Phantom Billstickers.

About the book:
A comprehensive guide to poetry by New Zealand women poets written by poetry champion Paula Green

New Zealand women have published poetry for over 150 years. In this landmark book, poet and anthologist Paula Green celebrates and makes connections between 201 of them, from emerging poets and those who are household names to those who have slipped from public view or were not paid the honour they were due in their lifetimes.

Wide-ranging, engaging and affecting, Wild Honey celebrates the many ways in which poems by women deserve a place in the literary canon of Aotearoa. Charming and unique, the book’s chapters follow the structure of a house, with different poets being discussed and assessed in each of the house’s rooms.

The selection is enormously generous, the tone is at times gentle and accessible, and Green’s reach is wide. She brings the pioneers of women’s poetry—Jessie Mackay, Blanche Baughan and Eileen Duggan—back from the shadows, and she also draws our attention to the remarkable stories of forgotten women poets such as Lola Ridge.

The book’s release in August 2019 is timed to coincide with National Poetry Day.

About the author:
Paula Green has published twelve poetry collections, including several for children. Her book 99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry, co-written with Harry Ricketts, was shortlisted for the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards. In 2017 she received the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Poetry and Literature. She runs the blog NZ Poetry Shelf, and has two poetry books out in 2019: The Track and Groovy Fish and other poems.