Commemorating 24 years of the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre

On 1 October 2025, the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre (nzepc) was officially decommissioned after 24 years of continuous operation.

Inspired by the University at Buffalo's Electronic Poetry Centre, Michele Leggott (former Poet Laureate and Faculty of Arts academic) and Brian Flaherty (former Head of Digital Services at the University of Auckland Library and poet), seeing the potential of open-source technology to connect global poetry communities, created a similar platform at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

Together with Auckland University Press publisher Elizabeth Caffin and University Librarian Janet Copsey, Michele and Brian launched nzepc on National Poetry Day in July 2001, where it grew into one of New Zealand’s longest-running digital poetry hubs.

Early life and impact

The nzepc was envisioned as 'an electronic gateway to poetry resources in Aotearoa | New Zealand and the Pacific region'. From the outset, it was a highly collaborative and networked initiative where all concerned parties agreed on every piece of content before it was published online. The site featured both established and emerging poets offering a mix of poetry, poetics, audio and video, essays, interviews, and links to archival resources.

Like its American counterpart, nzepc was designed to embrace digital poetry formats and encourage critical responses to local and international poetry, while continuing to underscore the importance of live readings. Between 2002 and 2022, nzepc hosted 76 events, each featuring ten poets and themed under titles such as STRATA, TRANSLATE, and LOUNGE. Readings were held alongside digital launches, promoting poetry activities across a wide range of poetic interests and communities.

As its reach expanded, nzepc held symposiums in Auckland, Christchurch, Bluff, Sydney, and Melbourne, inviting international guests to participate in readings and presentations. Guest editors were invited to feature poetry that reflected their interests, while visiting poets were gifted a Tapa Notebook to fill and return to the University Library. These notebooks were later archived and digitised for the website, creating a unique and personal record of poetic exchange.

A team effort

As the site developed, more University of Auckland personnel were drawn in, and a board was convened to steer the project. Board members included poets Murray Edmond, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Robert Sullivan, Lisa Samuels, Makyla Curtis and Asian Languages colleague, the late Hilary Chung.

Support from both the University of Auckland Library and the Faculty of Arts was instrumental in launching nzepc’s early efforts to bring poetry and poets into the digital space. Publicity was managed by Christine O’Brien, Marketing Manager at Auckland University Press, while Tim Page, Arts Faculty digital media specialist and musician, provided essential digital media expertise that shaped the site’s technical and creative output.

In addition to its online presence, nzepc has a physical home in Special Collections at the University Library. Over the years, archivists curated an eclectic collection that includes Tapa Notebooks, audio and video master files, posters, bookmarks, t-shirts and symposium ephemera.

The nzepc is now part of the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington. The website will remain publicly accessible, serving as a valuable record of over two decades of poetic interaction with electronic and physical resources.

The task of transferring the enormous amount of data and its associated digital structure has been successfully completed thanks to the efforts of Jacob Powell at Waipapa Taumata Rau and the support of the University of Auckland Library, along with his colleagues at the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA).