AUP New Poets 11

Memoir, myth andcritical theory weave through Xiaole Zhan’s essay-poem ‘Arcadiana’ as theyexplore their Pākehā-Chinese family. Meanwhile, Margo Montes de Oca’s‘intertidal’ combines rich, elemental imagery – water, light, colour – with aworld of feeling and poetic homage. In an affecting conclusion, J. A. Vili’s‘Poems Lost During the Void’ pays tribute to family and friends, reaching outbeyond grief to show the beautiful intensity of community and connection.

AUP New Poets 11 introduces threedistinctive and compelling voices to contemporary poetry.

‘AUP New Poets 11 introduces to the world three new poets whosework offers diverse visions of what poetry can be. Xiaole Zhan’s ‘Arcadiana’showcases an exciting new voice. Using the hybrid form of essay poetry, Zhanexplores their cross-cultural family and childhood, weaving in broader themesincluding history, religion and music. The innovative and clever poems in MargoMontes de Oca’s ‘intertidal’ return to motifs of water, sleep, dreams, time –including geological and evolutionary time – and engage with the work of otherwriters, such as Virginia Woolf and Louise Glück. And, finally, J. A. Vili is arefreshing new voice whose poems span years. His heartfelt ‘Poems Lost Duringthe Void’ which deeply explore place and community, are often punning andplayful, even while dealing with grief and loss.’ — Helen Rickerby

Xiaole Zhan (詹小乐)is a Chinese-New Zealand writer and composer based in Naarm. They are therecipient of the 2024 Kat Muscat Fellowship. Awards include the Kill YourDarlings Creative Non-Fiction Essay Prize and the Charles Brasch YoungWriters’ Essay Competition. Their work has appeared in Island, TheSuburban Review, Landfall, Cordite Poetry Review, GoingDown Swinging, Starling and Sweet Mammalian. Their name inChinese is 小乐 and means ‘Little Happy’but can also be read as ‘Little Music’.

Margo Montes de Oca is a poet and researcher of Mexican andPākehā descent living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She holds degrees in Englishliterature and in ecology and biodiversity. She was a 2024 Starling writer-in-residenceat the New Zealand Young Writers Festival, and her poetry has been published inissues of Starling, Sweet Mammalian, bad apple, Minaretsand Mayhem Literary Journal.

J. A. Vili is an Auckland-based poet of Samoan descent whosepoetry often advocates for suicide prevention and mental illness support. Hededicates poems to friends and to his children who lost their mother at a youngage. Vili holds a bachelor of creative writing. His poems have appeared in Ikajournal and Katūīvei: Contemporary Pasifika Poetry from Aotearoa NewZealand (Massey University Press, 2024).

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