Poetry evening of much promise at Whanganui Grand Hotel

Manawatu poets and musicians promise a fun night at Whanganui's Grand Hotel with a show called Magpies.

Combining Celtic music with NZ poetry makes an entertaining night.

Manawatu poets Chris Gallavin, Rachel Doré and Tim Saunders bring Magpies, a show, featuring the band Ceol Manawatu, to Whanganui's Grand Hotel on Sunday evening.

The three poets met in Feilding at last year's Manawatu Writers' Festival where Doré organised a poetry night with Ceol Manawatu at Murray's Irish Public House. They soon realised they shared the love of storytelling through poetry.

"Magpies are bringing some favourite NZ poems – poetry from Hunt, Shadbolt, Crump and others, with a few surprises and some of our originals thrown in," says Saunders. "And Glover, of course."

"Chris Gallavin is astonishing," says Doré.

"He has a vast repertoire of New Zealand poems recited by heart. He knows tales about the legendary poets and their social settings.

"He's practically a one-man movement to bring back the oral tradition of performing to audiences who are strangers to the old art of story-telling through poetry.

"He performs at pubs, wine bars, music gigs and Fish 'n' Chip shops - wows people wherever he goes."

Doré is a creative coach, a painter and event organiser, with a passion for social history. Presently, she is co-ordinating the Manawatu Writers' Festival 2018, coming up in September.

"No matter what I'm doing, I can't stop writing poetry," she says. "It leaks out."

Saunders is a sheep and beef farmer, who has had poetry and short stories published in the NZ Listener and Mindfood Magazine.

"Poets are like guides using the medium of language to guide people on a journey to another time and place," he says.

And Saunders is no stranger to guiding – he has worked as a tour guide around the country.

"I'm aware that some people are sometimes scared away by poems they don't understand. My aim is to write poems that are accessible."

Doré says they would like to see The Grand packed out on Sunday for the free show.

"It'd be good to say hello to some of Whanganui's poets on the night."

Magpies at The Grand Hotel, St Hill St, Whanganui, Sunday, July 22 at 6.30pm. Free entry.