This month is going to be a literary cracker. Lots of events coming up – the Montana Book Awards will be announced on the 25th in Wellington and of course, it’s Montana Poetry Day on the 22nd.

Hmm. The Awards. My money’s on Mansfield, but I wish Tarzan Presley would win. As Bill Manhire (who will of course be winning the antholgy section for Wide White Page) pointed out in a recent e-mail though, it could be tricky if it does. Due to all the legal hassles with the book, VUP has promised not to reprint the book in its present form but the Montana conditions of entry stipulate that books have to be well in print for bookshop supply. We shall see. Think you should probably track down a copy now, though… bound to be worth a fortune one day.

Anyway, there will be toooo many events to mention here. But this is where I’ll be on the 22nd. Two of the poetry finalists (CK Stead and Murray Edmond – the third is Vincent O’Sullivan, check the Montana site for more details) will be reading from their collections at an event organised by the NZEPS (New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre). With one or two others: Witi Ihimaera, Anne Kennedy (last year's Montana Award poetry winner; visiting from Hawaii), Paula Green (2005 UoA Literary Fellow), Bob Orr, Selina Tusitala Marsh and Cherie Barford. The MC is Michele Leggott, and it’s free. It will also be the NZEPS’s fourth birthday. That’s at the Strata Café, Auckland University Campus, from 5-7pm.

If I was in Wellington, of course I’d be at the Book Council event, Celebrating Wellington Poets. The New Zealand Book Council is hosting a reading featuring Jenny Bornholdt, James Brown, Geoff Cochrane, Bill Manhire, Gregory O'Brien, Chris Price and Ashleigh Young from 12-1pm, at the National Library Auditorium, Molesworth St, Thorndon.

But of course, the whole idea is to celebrate poetry in all its glory. So best start getting your poem ready now to send (gorgeous card?) or read to your partner/on a bus/at your poetry day dinner party, or just to yourself. Here’s to the bard in all of us.