Recorded at Te Papa Tongarewa on 29 July 2024, this Writers on Mondays session brings together three leading poets for readings and discussion. Auden’s idea that ‘poetry makes nothing happen’ has been vigorously challenged by recent events in Aotearoa, and Hinemoana Baker, James Brown, and Tracey Slaughter are adept at creating compelling happenings in language. They discuss with publisher Fergus Barrowman what poetry can do. How does a poem talk back to its times, while remaining news that stays news? Are poets really, as Shelley insisted, the ‘unacknowledged legislators of the world’?
modernlettuce 