New Poet Laureate announced on National Poetry Day

The National Library is delighted to celebrate National Poetry Day by announcing Chris Tse of Wellington is the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2022-2024.

Te Pouhuaki National Librarian Rachel Esson described Chris’s appointment as recognition of “a poet leading a generational and cultural shift in the reach and appreciation of poetry in Aotearoa.”

Fellow poet Freya Daly Sadgrove says Chris “will unite and embolden the full breadth of Aotearoa’s poetry community as well as entice new audiences with his innovation. He’s a glam-rock poetry superstar with a big, gorgeous heart and he will raise the profile of Aotearoa poetry right now like no one else.”

For Tse, his appointment was a thrill and an honour.

“The number 13 is a lucky number in my family, so it feels very auspicious to be named the 13th New Zealand Poet Laureate.

“Stepping into this role as a queer, Asian writer is an incredible and life-changing opportunity. I’m thrilled and honoured to be following in the footsteps of some of our literary greats.

“New Zealand’s poetry scene is thrumming with diverse and innovative voices on both the page and the stage, and I can’t wait to use my tenure as Poet Laureate to help people discover the riches of this scene.”

From its inception as the Te Mata Estate Winery Laureate Award in 1996 through to 2007 the Laureates were Bill Manhire, Hone Tuwhare, Elizabeth Smither, Brian Turner and Jenny Bornholdt. Since 2007, when the National Library took over the appointment of the Poet Laureate, the Laureates have been Michele Leggott, Cilla McQueen, Ian Wedde, Vincent O’Sullivan, CK Stead, Selina Tusitala Marsh and David Eggleton.

New Zealand Poet Laureate blog

The stipend of the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award is $100,000 over the two-year period. The Laureate receives $80,000, with the balance held by the National Library to cover the cost of the Laureate’s tokotoko, and to support their travel and participation in literary events.

Chris will be taking part in three events as part of Auckland Writers Festival from today (National Poetry Day) through to Sunday.

Media contact

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Images free to use with credit
Caption 1: Poet Laureate Chris Tse. Credit: Marcelo Duque Cesar/ National Library
Caption 2: Poet Laureate Chris Tse and Te Pouhuaki National Librarian Rachel Esson. Credit: Marcelo Duque Cesar/ National Library

Biographical information

Chris Tse (he/him) was born and raised in Lower Hutt. He studied film and English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, where he also completed an MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters.
His poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction have been recorded for radio and widely published in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies in New Zealand and overseas.

He is one of three poets included in the joint collection AUP New Poets 4(Auckland University Press, 2011).

Chris’ first full-length poetry collection, How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, was published by Auckland University Press in September 2014. In 2016, Snakes was a finalist in the poetry category at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, where it received the Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry.

In 2018, Auckland University Press published his second collection HE’S SO MASC. The collection was critically acclaimed and was included in the New Zealand Herald‘s Best Books of 2018 and The Spinoff‘s 20 Best Poetry Books of 2018.

He and Emma Barnes co-edited Out Here: An anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ writers from Aoteaora (Auckland University Press, 2021). This landmark book is the first major anthology of writing by queer Aotearoa writers.

Chris’ most recent collection, Super Model Minority, was published by Auckland University Press in March 2022.

A frequent panellist and performer at literary festivals throughout New Zealand, Chris has also appeared at international festivals, including the Cheltenham Literature Festival (UK), the Emerging Writers Festival (Melbourne, Australia), EnQueer (Sydney, Australia), the National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, Australia), and the Queensland Poetry Festival (Brisbane, Australia).

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