Does Literature Matter? Simon Armitage & Chris Tse

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UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage joins Aotearoa Poet Laureate Chris Tse for a conversation about the place of writing, reading and books in their lives. How can literature impact us today? What is the work of our libraries? Can poetry make a difference? What is the role of the Poet Laureate and what do Simon and Chris hope to achieve as caretakers of the position in the UK and Aotearoa, respectively? 

Join us for this free event (registration recommended to ensure a seat!) with one of Britain's most acclaimed writers, and our own literary advocate, Chris Tse.

About Simon:
Simon Armitage is the current UK Poet Laureate (2019 – 2029). He has received numerous awards for his poetry including the Sunday Times Young Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes, an Eric Gregory Award, a major Lannan Award, a Cholmondeley Award, the Spoken Word Award (Gold), the Ivor Novello Award for song-writing, BBC Radio Best Speech Programme, Television Society Award for Documentary and Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry. He won the 2017 PEN America Award for Poetry in Translation and was awarded the 2018 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.

About Chris:
Chris Tse (he/him) was born and raised in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. In 2022, he was named the 13th New Zealand Poet Laureate. Chris’ first full-length poetry collection, How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, was published by Auckland University Press in September 2014 and in 2016 won 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.

Simon Armitage's visit is proudly supported by British Council of New Zealand and the Pacific. And this event is proudly supported by the National Library of New Zealand.