Kiri Piahana-Wong is a poet, editor, and the publisher at Anahera Press. She is of Māori (Ngāti Ranginui), Chinese and Pākehā (English) ancestry. Kiri is the author of two poetry collections: Night Swimming (2013) and Tidelines (2024), both with Anahera Press. Night Swimming was a finalist in the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Awards 2014. Reviewer Siobhan Harvey described Night Swimming as ‘a collection abundant with striking imagery and imagination. It marks a promising debut by an author carving out her own distinctive themes and ideas.’ Of Tidelines, Paula Green (NZ Poetry Shelf) wrote ‘this is a precious poetry collection, both moving and lyrical, that lets you feel the sting of salt and despair, fragility and resolve.’

Kiri’s poetry is concerned with the way physical landscapes interact with our internal landscapes. She writes about Te Taiao the natural world, relationships and what lies at the boundaries of our physical and emotional selves. Reviewing Tidelines, Tracey Sharp wrote: ‘[T]he landscape presses on Piahana-Wong’s poetry in a way that lends her precise, sparse language a deep gravity. And it’s this deft interweaving of the outer of nature and the inner of despair, that is the touchstone of this powerful work.’

Her poems have been frequently anthologised and published in journals, including Essential NZ Poems, Poetry NZ, Landfall, Takahē, Dear Heart: 150 New Zealand Love Poems, A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand, Vā: Stories by Women of the Moana, and internationally in Set Me On Fire: A Poem For Every Feeling (Doubleday, UK).

Kiri is the co-editor of two anthologies: Te Awa o Kupu (Penguin NZ, 2023), a compilation of contemporary Māori literature, and Short / Poto: the big book of small stories (Massey University Press, 2025), a bilingual (te reo Māori/English) book of microfictions.

Kiri established Anahera Press in 2011 to provide a new publication platform for Māori and Pasifika poets, who at that time were marginalised by the mainstream. As of 2024, the press has published 12 poetry collections and 1 novel. Anahera Press has recently refocused its efforts within Te Ao Māori, concentrating on publishing toikupu poetry by kaituhi Māori.

Kiri was an MC at Poetry Live, Aotearoa’s longest-running live poetry venue, for six years. She is passionate about encouraging other poets and opening pathways for emerging writers to succeed. As well as running Anahera Press, she is a mentor with the New Zealand Society of Authors mentoring programme. She has performed her poetry at events such as the Auckland Writers Festival, Going West and the Medellin International Poetry Festival.

 

Links

Anahera Press website

Anahera Press writer page

Penguin NZ writer page

ANZRB review of Short/Poto (August, 2025)

Interview with Headlands journal discussing Tidelines (July, 2024)

Interview with Māori Literature Trust discussing Tidelines, writing and advice for Māori writers (June, 2024)

Interview with e-tangata discussing the revolution in the poetry world — especially among Māori (May, 2024)