Two Poets - Poetry Performance

Come and enjoy two of Napier’s best poets share some of their colourful and engaging work, performed in the beautiful setting of the Main Gallery at CAN.

David Chan is a superb live performer, whose wonderful poems draw the listener in – and afterwards, seem to hang in the air for further contemplation. His poems frequently hold fascinating narrative histories, while delving into the meanings that lie beneath the surface of life and feed memories for many years.

David was born in Auckland and has been writing poetry on and off since age 6. He worked as a die-maker, toolmaker and a tutor in the philosophy of education, before becoming a lawyer.

He started reading poetry at the famous Globe Tavern in the early 1980s and has performed in numerous locations in NZ and Australia. David’s poems have won awards – including first prize in the Victorian Writers Centre, Melbourne Poets prize in 1994.

Jeremy Roberts has shared his dynamic, insightful poems in many locations and has performed and recorded poems with musicians in NZ, Texas, Saigon, and Jakarta.

His work has been published in a wide range of journals – including NZ Listener, Landfall, Takahē, Poetry NZ and Phantom Billstickers. Jeremy organises poetry meetings in Hawke’s Bay and interviews poets on Radio Kidnappers.

His first poetry collection was ‘Idiot Dawn’ – consisting of poems written in the 1980s.

His collection – ‘Cards on the Table’ was published by IP Australia, in 2015, about which NZ Poet Laureate C. K. Stead said – “I enjoy it all and find a lot to admire.” He won the Earl of Seacliffe poetry prize in 2019.