Wild Honey

Highly regarded poet and anthologist Paula Green is the author of this much overdue survey of New Zealands women poets. Illustrated throughout by Sarah Laing and featuring the work of 195 poets (all of whom have biographies and full bibliographies), this book is a landmark volume and an incredible achievement. Its timing is perfect given the current re-examination of the role of the male gatekeepers of our literature in the 1940s and 1950s, who decided that womens poetry was weak and excluded it from the volumes of poetry that were to become the canon. How things have changed at present the most exciting poetry is coming from high-profile young women poets who almost have cult status Hera Lindsay Bird and Tayi Tibble. Charmingly and unique, the books chapters follow the structure of a house, with different poets being discussed and assessed in each of the houses rooms. The selection is enormously generous, the tone is at times gentle and accessible, and Greens reach is wide. She brings the pioneers of womens poetry Jessie Mackay, Blanche Baughan and Eileen Duggan back from the shadows and she also draws our attention to the remarkable stories of forgotten women poets such as Lola Ridge.

Short-listed for Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2020 (New Zealand)

‘How would it be if poetry written by women in New Zealand had a house that you could visit, in which you could spend time, and from which you could emerge having made new friends? Luckily, Paula Green has made us such a house. Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand women’s poetry brings literary pioneers such as Jessie Mackay, Blanche Baughan, Lola Ridge and Eileen Duggan out of the shadows to stand with contemporary literary provocateurs such as Hera Lindsay Bird and Tayi Tibble.’

‘It is noisy, refreshing and proudly anchored in the domestic . . . Green is an engaging host, throwing open the curtains, whisking off the dust sheets, coursing through different poetic traditions in animated homage to women's writing.’

‘A stunning book.’

‘This was an extremely difficult book to review because it merits much more than a linear reading. It’s a book that beckons the reader to return to it, with pencil markings and post-it notes.’

Paula Green has published twelve poetry collections, including several for children. Her book 99 Ways into New Zealand Poetry, co-written with Harry Ricketts, was shortlisted for the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards. In 2017 she received the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Poetry and Literature. She runs the blog NZ Poetry Shelf, and has two poetry books out in 2019: The Track and Groovy Fish and other poems.

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