Anahera Press will shortly begin production on a new poetry collection, entitled Lucky Punch, by Simone Kaho. Simone is a New Zealand poet with Tongan ancestry, part of a new generation of Pasifika voices. She grew up in the ’80s in Waterview, Auckland; a kid fascinated by the backyard, the creek and two dairies equal distance from home. She was awarded a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington in 2011.

These days Simone lives in a treehouse studio in Grey Lynn with her blue Burmese, Louie. She’s known in Auckland for her dynamic poetry performances, a result of getting hooked into poetry by Poetry Live, the 30+ year-old weekly open mic on K Rd. She loves working with musicians, crafting rock-n-roll poetry experiences for iconic venues including The Basement, The Mercury Theatre and Galatos. Her work has been published in numerous New Zealand literary magazines. Lucky Punch is her first collection.