City of Literature inspires poetry at Port Chalmers School

By Ōtepoti He Puna Auaha | Dunedin UNESCO City Of Literature | Posted: Wednesday Apr 08, 2026

The Dunedin City of Literature team had a lively September. As part of Book Week celebrations 2025, a group of enthusiastic students at Port Chalmers School took part in a poetry workshop with City of Literature South D Poet Lorikeet, Jenny Powell.

The workshop brought together ten keen young writers for a focused and creative session exploring poetic ideas and form, using the Port Chalmers wind as a shared theme and source of inspiration.

Jenny said “the students worked with impressive concentration and imagination”, producing handwritten poems that were later sent to Québec City, Canada as part of the international Poetry Pen Pals project. These poems will be displayed in Québec City’s Morrin Centre, giving the students the exciting opportunity to share their voices with readers on the other side of the world. To help visualise their poems’ journey, students were shown where Québec City is located on a map, sparking great excitement and curiosity.

Jenny Powell praised the students noting their exemplary focus, creativity, and willingness to tackle new concepts without complaint.

The poems themselves beautifully reflect one of the core values of Cities of Literature: the celebration of diversity. With their innocence, honesty, and sense of hope, the students’ work offers readers a glimpse of a thoughtful and promising future.

To mark the occasion, the City of Literature worked with the DCC Marketing and Design team who created striking posters — one for each child to take home, and another proudly displayed in the school entranceway — celebrating the students’ achievements and their contribution to Book Week and this international literary exchange.

See below pdf to enjoy these wonderful poems including a special addition by Jenny Powell.