Cilla McQueen

One of New Zealand’s most distinguished poets, Bluff-based Cilla McQueen has published a whopping 15 volumes of poetry. She has scooped the NZ Book Award for Poetry three times, was the New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2011, and was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in 2010.

Her latest collection, Poeta, gathers together five decades of superlative work. When asked what irked her about poetry, she said “its difficulty”, and when asked what delighted her, “its difficulty”. Richard Reeve will talk with McQueen about her illustrious career and the pleasingly persistent tug of poetry’s difficulty.