For the 2025 edition of Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, editor Tracey Slaughter has once again hit the zeitgeist in her selection of 141 new poems from an exhaustive submissions process.
Another packed issue, #59 showcases the raw and vital — including from this year’s featured poet, Mark Prisco — and a blistering introduction from Slaughter herself. In addition there are excellent reviews of a crop of recent poetry books.
With work by both established and emerging New Zealand poets, the Yearbook is essential reading for all poetry fans.
To look inside, click here.
‘Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2025 is a testament to the depth and diversity of New Zealand poetry today. Slaughter and her team have created more than an anthology; they have captured a collective breath, suspended in ink, resonant with urgency and hope. For any reader — devotee or newcomer — it is a powerful, essential read.’ — NZ Booklovers
‘These voices bear witness to our predicament — the pile-on of existential crises from without and within. That’s something. They sigh, whisper, stutter, choke, tease, mislead, mesmerise, placate, provoke, shout, muse, play, reflect, vent, evangelise, rant, yawp, cry out.’ — Charles Bisley, Newsroom
‘Tracey has curated the best issue yet, an issue that will get you hunting down the work of a poet, or picking up a pen and writing your next poem.’ — Paula Green, Poetry Shelf
