The first national poetry conference, hosted in Havelock North, drew a crowd of more than 100 from all corners of the country.
Organiser Bill Sutton said the turnout had been "brilliant" and that they had to turn people away.
"We decided we couldn't really cope with over 100, we got up to 106 but about five couldn't make it."
He said the idea for the conference sprung from the regional meetings Mr Sutton attends.
"We realised our own Hawke's Bay poetry group was so successful, people really like coming and reading their poetry to an interested audience, we wondered if it would work nationally."