Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2023: Over 1000 submissions wow Waikato-based editor

University of Waikato lecturer and Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2023 editor Dr Tracey Slaughter. Photo / Joel Hinton

Poetry Aotearoa’s 2023 yearbook is out, and it brings together new poetry, reviews and essays from established and emerging writers around New Zealand.

University of Waikato senior lecturer Dr Tracey Slaughter, who edited the anthology for the third year, has spent the last nine months reviewing more than 1000 poems for the yearbook, subtitled After-burn.

The Poetry New Zealand Yearbook, renamed Poetry Aotearoa, has been running since 1951 and is New Zealand’s longest-running poetry journal.

After-burn features 150 poems from 110 poets, including Waikato University English graduates and current students such as essa may ranapiri, Dadon Rowell, Mark Prisco, Liam Hinton, Jessie Burnette, Evie Howell, Shaynah Jackson and Heidi Rogers.

Slaughter says the final selection was “an intense process”.

“Poetry has caught alight within the younger generation. It’s a living art form that the young have grabbed hold of. There is a fire burning within young people, and they are claiming that space and making themselves heard,” Slaughter says.

“Many of this year’s submissions took my breath away with their skill and resonance.”

Every year, the yearbook includes several works of a featured poet. This year’s featured poet is former Waikato Writing Studies student Tyla Harry Bidois, whose work centres largely on mixed-race cultural identity, womanhood and poetic form.

Slaughter herself was named featured poet in 2002 after her first poem was published in the 17th Poetry New Zealand Yearbook in 1998.

When it comes to reviewing submissions, Slaughter says it’s not about following a checklist, but about feel and connectivity. She says she wishes she had the time to give detailed feedback to those who don’t make the cut.

“I’m a poet myself, I know what goes into writing one.”

Slaughter is the author of six books, including the short story collections Devil’s Trumpet and Deleted Scenes for Lovers. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including the international Fish Short Story Prize and the Bridport Short Fiction Award.

On May 4, Slaughter, together with fellow Waikato University lecturer Catherine Chidgey, will hold a workshop for secondary school students to give young talents an idea of how they can develop their writing.