Four New Zealand Poets: Alan Brunton, Denis Glover, Sam Hunt and Hone Tuware

The New Zealand Students' Arts Council announced today a national tour by four of New Zealand's most well known poets-Alan Brunton, Denis Glover, Sam Hunt and Hone Tuware. The tour is to start in Auckland at the end of March and will move through the country over the following five weeks, visiting secondary schools, universities and teachers' training colleges. Public performances in seven major centres will also be presented. The Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council has given the tour substantial assistance with a grant for performers' fees and allowances.

The tour proposal came from some of New Zealand's newly emerging poets who expressed the desire to read their works alongside their more well known contemporaries. The tour has been arranged so that in each centre one or two of the touring poets will visit schools, accompanied by a poet from the region. This tour will give an opportunity to many young poets throughout the country to read their works.

At each centre there is to be major public readings. Here an attempt will be made to highlight the more theatrical aspects of reading poetry, with careful use of lighting and stage techniques. In an effort to breakdown the limitations of mass readings, i.e, too many words, Mr Alan Smythe and Mr Wystan Curnow of Auckland have compiled two audio visual presentations using tapes of well known poets.

'The tour aims to bring poets into direct contact with the community, to give people the opportunity to probe the thoughts of the poet and to restore the tradition of the bard,' Ms Dianne Robson, Assistant to the Director, New Zealand Students' Arts Council said. 'It's difficult to predict exactly how this will go. It's never been attempted before.'

'The initial work done on the tour has produced an excellent response from many sections of the community. We have received lots of good wishes and undoubtedly the tour will do much for the New Zealand poet.