Chris Tse, poet laureate (Image: Tina Tiller)

BooksAugust 26, 2022

Chris Tse is NZ’s next top poet laureate

Books editor

Chris Tse, poet laureate (Image: Tina Tiller)

The beloved pop idol of Aotearoa poetry has been crowned New Zealand’s lucky number 13th poet laureate this National Poetry Day, and everyone is extremely happy about it.

Lower Hutt poet and editor of The Spinoff’s Friday Poem, Chris Tse is Aotearoa’s next poet laureate and it’s a joyous vibe-shift. The author of three acclaimed volumes of poetry and co-editor of anthologies including the groundbreaking Out Here: An Anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ Writers from Aotearoa is known across Aotearoa’s literary world, and beyond, as one of the most generous, energetic and voguish writers around.

When asked what song symbolises his feelings on his new position, he answered: “Queens Remix of Beyoncé’s ‘Break My Soul’ (which mashes the original with Madonna’s ‘Vogue’) instantly came to mind. I love the way Beyoncé uses this remix to further celebrate the black female musicians who broke ground before her, and to acknowledge her contemporaries. This is the spirit I want to embody during my time as poet laureate – to bring the past, present and future of poetry together in a way that builds community and uplifts all poets.” See? Instant vibes. And perhaps not what you might have come to expect from a poet laureate.

Tse’s task over the next two years as the country’s Head Poet is, with the help of an $80,000 stipend, to “create new work and promote poetry throughout the country. The laureate is an accomplished and highly regarded poet who can speak on behalf of New Zealand poetry, and to its readers.”

Te pouhuaki national librarian Rachel Esson has accurately described Tse’s appointment as recognition of “a poet leading a generational and cultural shift in the reach and appreciation of poetry in Aotearoa”. In Tse’s own words: “Stepping into this role as a queer, Asian writer is an incredible and life-changing opportunity.” It is for Tse but this is also epic for Aotearoa, because the thing is, Tse has been quietly shaking things up for years. He’s an entire literary eco-system: the poet’s poet; the reluctant-about-poetry-reader’s poet; the fashion-lover’s poet; the pop idol of poets; the Prince-Madonna of Aotearoa letters.

I remember seeing Tse perform from his debut collection How To Be Dead in a Year of Snakes nearly 10 years ago. It was apparent in the charged, anticipatory atmosphere of the crammed bookshop that here was someone with volumes inside them. He was a person to watch and a poet to follow. Over the years, in a gentle but sartorially outstanding manner, Tse has evolved into a literary phenomenon of his own. He is a super poet with the mysterious power of being everywhere all at once.

There isn’t a game-changer that he hasn’t had a well-dressed hand in: Show Ponies created by Freya Daly Sadgrove; inaugural guest curator of LitCrawl Wellington; fashion icon at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards year after year (joined only in queen of lit fashion status by Tayi Tibble and Whiti Hereaka); poetry curator for the epic poetry-song cycle performance Epilogue; co-creator of new opera, Silence Is … ; co-creator of poetry karaoke experience Hit Me Baby One More Rhyme with Rosabel Tan.

Everybody wants and loves Chris Tse because he makes poetry emotionally potent, incredibly chic and also sexy. Upon recalling Tse perform in the watershed moment that was the first Show Ponies in 2019, fellow poet Sam Duckor-Jones said: “I stood in the back with Kerry Donovan Brown when Chris Tse read ‘Gentleman Poet in the Streets, Raging Homosexual in the Sheets’ … ‘of course we have an agenda / how else will black sequined capes become a thing’ … and he snapped open that fan … to which Kerry and I turned to each other and agreed – he is our leader.”

Tse is a tireless supporter of others behind all of the scenes: as co-editor, as book-launcher, as curator, as The Spinoff Friday Poem editor, as ideas guy. I don’t remember an event, party or launch that Tse hasn’t been at (and my mum-life intermittent appearances mean that the odds of this would be low if Chris wasn’t literally always there). I just basically don’t remember poetry before Chris Tse. Well, I do. But it wasn’t as hot as it is right now and as it’s about to get under his watch.

But the people I am mostly happy for in all of this are those who are yet to discover Tse, and perhaps even poetry itself. “To speak on behalf of New Zealand poetry, and to its readers” seems a huge ask. In some ways it feels like a strained quest in a time of trying to bend and break models to make space for multiplicity. (Like, there should also be a youth poet laureate position akin to the US pathway that helped make Amanda Gorman a global phenomenon.) And it can be a dark art trying to direct Netflix-jaded eyes onto literature, which is often under-resourced as an art form (reading and books are ubiquitous which means literature is not often considered in the same realm as other performing arts with flashier lights and budgets).

But Tse’s appointment is the progression (that started with the appointment of Selina Tusitala Marsh, poet laureate 2017–2019) of a transformation being affected by the sheer energy of our poets at large. When asked what he wants to do with his term, Tse says: “I just want to make cool stuff and get as many poets involved as possible. Ultimately, my goal is to make poetry part of people’s everyday lives.”

Chris Tse and composer Rosa Elliott (Photo: Rebecca McMillan)

Tse has already succeeded in expanding what poetry is and can do in Aotearoa. To me this laureateship is a joyous ascension of, in Tse’s words, a community “thrumming with diverse and innovative voices on both the page and the stage”. I’ve long believed that Aotearoa is one of the most generative poetry communities in the world. Chris Tse as poet laureate tells that story because he will take that community on this ride with him in inventive and, most probably, visually stunning ways. He will turn more of us onto the sheer magic of poetry. It’s just the way he is.

Behind Chris Tse is a chorus of Aotearoa writers thrilled to the quills. Here are what just a few of them have to say about him and this merry appointment:

Emily Writes: “We are so lucky to have Chris Tse as our poet laureate! He introduced me to poetry and I fell in love with both him and the form. I know he will be an incredible ambassador for poetry in Aotearoa as he has already been such a tireless champion of our poets and writers for so long now.”

Louise Wallace (poet; founder and editor of Starling): “I have known Chris for 20 years, since we did our first poetry workshop course together at the IIML. It’s become clear to me over that time that Chris is some kind of ancient vampire or part cyborg – no one man can have such boundless energy and enthusiasm for all things “arts”. But still, I love him and I can’t wait to see what he surprises and inspires us with in his tenure as poet laureate, and all the fans he will bring in under his spell. He is truly a poet for the people of Aotearoa today.”

Francis Cooke (poet; co-editor of Starling): “The thing I always remember most about Chris’s poetry is how deeply and honestly emotional it is. I know it’s a bit cliché to talk about poets revealing deep emotional truths (about themselves/about all of us), but Chris is never anything less than completely honest about writing about love and queerness, race and racism, about our national history and current political despair and the possibility of imagining and creating a better world.”

Freya Daly Sadgrove (poet; creator of Show Ponies): “Having worked with Chris on Show Ponies, I know that he is absolutely brimming with ideas — bold, forward-thinking ideas that will advance what poetry can be in this country. I have watched him push himself way outside his comfort zone in the service of his poetry, with electrifying results. And he pulls other poets along with him into that space of daring experimentation. He can’t help it, he’s like a pied piper except he doesn’t lock children in a cave. He opens the world!”

Emma Barnes (poet): “Chris Tse is a heroic supporter and lover of poetry. During the years we edited Out Here together, Chris would constantly be working on many other projects, often supporting young poets. He’s hugely generous with his time and enthusiasm and I know how well loved he is by writers all over the country. He often invites voices into rooms he’s in if he notices absences. He has a keen eye for what’s fair and right and is not afraid to advocate where needed. His appointment leads the way for a new generation of poet laureates who might wear capes, sequins and feathers and who will be queer, young, takatāpui or wāhine, perhaps all of the above.”

Brannavan Gnanalingam (novelist): “Chris embodies community, and is an absolute role model within the various artistic scenes in Aotearoa. Also, he gives a voice to so many marginalised and underrepresented groups, and I’m just chuffed that he’s been deservedly recognised.”

Jordan Hamel (poet): Chris Tse? Who? What has he ever done? Write three books that have inspired me and an entire generation of writers in Aotearoa? Continually push the boundaries of what poetry is and can be? Tirelessly support and uplift younger, up and coming poets including myself? Maintain a reputation of being impossibly handsome and well-dressed at all times? Should have given it to C.K. Stead again.

Pip Adam (novelist; host of Better Off Read): “The thing I love about Chris is that he not only produces some of my favourite poetry but through his advocacy, support and generosity he makes even more amazing poetry possible. His work as a poet is quantum-like – making more space rather than taking it up.”

Chris Tse will be taking part in three events as part of Auckland Writers Festival from today (National Poetry Day) through to Sunday. For more information please visit Auckland Writers Festival. He will also be appearing at WORD Christchurch, 31 August – 4 September.

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Nothing conveys the nitty gritty detail like a good old fashioned book. (Image: Alessandra Banal)

OPINIONPoliticsAugust 25, 2022

Politicians owe it to us to write more books

Henry Cooke

Contributing writer

Nothing conveys the nitty gritty detail like a good old fashioned book. (Image: Alessandra Banal)

MPs love to decry the soundbite-driven media and the combative interviews that come with it. But few take up the chance to explain themselves at length. Henry Cooke thinks they should.

Back when I was a political reporter, new colleagues in the gallery would occasionally ask around for a reading list.

Was there a book, or series of books, that would give them a bit of a grounding in the political events of the last several decades? As the median age of journalists appeared to trend downward this question only became more relevant – there were simply fewer and fewer reporters who’d been working in the media during the Key years, let alone the Clark or Bolger years.

I always found myself struggling to give a good answer. It isn’t just that there is no “one great book” – of course there isn’t – it’s that there are basically none. I ended up half-heartedly recommending the few bits of good political history easily watchable online (Revolution and Campaign), which are passed down like relics from POLS 111 student to POLS 111 student, and then perhaps a Colin James or Rebecca Macfie book.

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Joel MacManus
— Wellington editor

Instead New Zealand’s recent political history is largely scattered around the broken archives of news websites, badly-cited Wikipedia articles, and Hansard. If you are, like me, a true sicko who wants to understand more than the broad-brush achievements of a government that reigned before you were a conscious adult, you’re mostly out of luck.

This ahistoricism is a failure of many of our country’s institutions. Professional historians prefer the comfort zone of the not-so-recent past, meaning we get interesting articles about tax policy in the 1980s published in 2015. Journalists only draw on the past when they need to for a story, and even then they often forget to. And politicians are never that happy to remind you of how many different positions their party may have had on a policy issue – they’ll put up a portrait of Michael Joseph Savage, but they won’t talk to you about how they felt about the foreshore and seabed debate.

My solution won’t fix this entirely, but I think it will help: Politicians need to write more books.

The last prime minister to write a book about his or her time in office was Jim Bolger in 1998. Not only has John Key not written a book, he didn’t even sit down with Guyon Espiner for his 9th Floor interviews that other Prime Ministers used to go over their time in office. Even Bill English, who is intimidatingly smart and clearly felt that he was leaving politics with unfinished business in the social investment space, has not found the time to write something.

I’m not saying any of these books would actually be good. The recent crop of books by former politicians – I’m thinking of Christopher Finlayson’s Yes Minister, Michael Cullen’s Labour Saving and Marilyn Waring’s The Political Years – all lacked the narrative tension and zoom-out research that truly great non-fiction requires. Instead these books all acted as essentially lists of events and policy issues, with context given by the politician – whether it be the cabinet mood at the time, what they regret or don’t regret about a decision, or how their thinking may have changed over time.

But while these books may not be fantastic literature, they are valuable. Giving a politician the space they will never get in an interview or a press release to really explain their decision-making, with the wisdom of hindsight and no pressure to conform to a party line can yield results that should be interesting in the present and to future historians.

Often what’s most intriguing is what’s left out. In David Lange’s memoir, the most talented writer to ever reach the ninth floor simply glides over his own role in allowing his government and party to fall apart, resorting to hilarious insults instead. Barack Obama, another talented writer, seems to just accept that the pharmaceutical industry’s demands of his healthcare bill have to be implemented, even with a filibuster-proof majority in congress. These omissions give us a real insight into both men’s brains.

Then prime minister David Lange and his finance minister Roger Douglas peruse a copy of Douglas’ book, 1987. (Photo: John Nicholson for Evening Post via National Library)

It isn’t just prime ministers or even elected MPs who should write more – it’s all political actors. The Tony Blair years in the UK are perhaps best understood through the diaries of his staffer Alastair Campbell, much as Margaret Hayward’s diary of her years as Norman Kirk’s secretary are invaluable.

If these people at the height of power keep good enough notes, they can open up a series of rooms that the New Zealand public deserves some entry into. What were the discussions like in the immediate hours after the Canterbury earthquakes? What was the first thing Clark thought when she woke to the news of 9/11, or the Israeli passport scandal, or Tariana Turia leaving to start a new party? How exactly did Bill English process not just the grim economic picture he inherited as a new finance minister, but the news that John Key was stepping down? We have glimpses of some of this in bits of journalism or oral history, such as Andrea Vance’s excellent Blue Blood or the Inside Stories book by Claudia Pond Eyley and Dan Salmon on Helen Clark – but history deserves fuller accounting.

It’s easy to see why these books have dried up. Publishing a book used to bring in some income (which people like Lange needed). Nowadays social media gives former politicians like Clark a far more direct way to let her views be known, and none of them seem to be really hurting for cash.

But nothing beats a book for explaining oneself at length. And if we are going to fix the ahistoricism that pervades our country, locking so many out of detailed knowledge of the recent past, we should start at the top.

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