Poets at Sherwood + Outlet Podcast with Dominic Hoey
Auckland-based poet, author and playwright, Dominic Hoey, will perform an intimate night of poetry and storytelling at Sherwood this Friday. Local poets Bethany Rogers and Julian Noel will also join him to perform some poems at the start of the evening.
Hoey’s career has spanned across many creative mediums including music with the release of four rap albums. He’s released two novels, Iceland and Poor People With Money, both of which were New Zealand bestsellers, and co-founded Dead Bit Books (DBB) in 2019 – a small press publishing writers who sit on the margins of NZ's publishing industry. When his interest was first sparked in poetry, a love affair quickly grew.
“I’ve always been interested in it, but for the longest time my main thing was rapping, because where I grew up that seemed like it was something more acceptable to do I suppose,” Hoey says. “So I just wrote poetry secretly. Then as I was a bit older, poetry slams became a thing, so I started entering and I won some of those and just went from there. It’s become a massive part of my life – not only do I write poetry, but I teach it, and it’s taken me around the world and allowed me to do a lot of cool stuff.”
Hoey has taught thousands of students across Aotearoa and overseas. He’s also the founder of Learn To Write, a creative writing programme teaching craft to people who don’t have access to formal education, in addition to his weekly creative writing class at Homeground as part of the city mission. When teaching, he encourages people to draw on their real-life experience.
“When I teach, I always say to people that it is what’s going to make you unique, because everyone’s life experience and their way of perceiving the world is different. I think you put that into your work, and I think life is just so absurd if you actually really put a lens on it, so I love highlighting that absurdity and the absurdity of social norms – I’m writing a poem about having a job at the moment and how ridiculous that is if you actually zoom out and look at what it entails.”
Topics Hoey explores in his poetry and storytelling are mostly personal and at times a little political. He explores his life and often evokes emotion from the audience – sometimes laughing, sometimes shedding tears.
“I think that’s your job as a poet – I think it really is to make people gain empathy – to create empathy with yourself and the audience. And it’s a strange thing, I was talking with my mate about it a little while ago, it’s the only job where if the audience cries, you’ve done it right.”
In addition to performing poetry, Hoey has released two novels and four poetry collections. His most recent poetry collection, The Dead Are Always Laughing At Us, will be with him for his Queenstown show. It is about his best friend, who passed away two years ago, and their relationship as well as Hoey’s grief. He describes it as funny and also heart breaking. He’s looking forward to bringing his show on tour.
“I’ve always enjoyed it in Queenstown and the shows are always good, so I’m excited to get back down,” Hoey says.
Dominic Hoey, Bethany Rogers and Julian Noel will take the stage at Sherwood this Friday, 9 August, at 7pm. You can find out more info or purchase tickets at sherwoodqueenstown.nz/events or from humantix.
