Kay McKenzie Cooke

Kay McKenzie Cooke 'was born in and raised in Southland, and is of Kāti Mamoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Cockney, Northern English, Scottish and Irish descent. Cooke attended Dunedin Teacher’s College in the 1970s, and worked for many years in the Early Childhood Sector. Cooke’s poetry has appeared in Takahe, the NZ Listener, Sport, JAAM, Southern Ocean Review, Trout, Glottis, and Poetry NZ. Her work has also been anthologised in the Poetry Society of NZ Anthologies, including a haiku published in the NZ Haiku Anthology (2ed.) In 2002, Kay McKenzie Cooke's first poetry book, Feeding the Dogs, was published by Otago University Press. Feeding the Dogs received the Jessie MacKay Best First Book Award for Poetry at the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. A review in New Zealand Books described the collection as having 'Carefully-drawn moments of luxurious excess which occasionally burst through otherwise extremely restrained verse'. Her second book of poems, Made for Weather, was published by Otago University Press in 2007. Her third poetry book, Born to a Red-Headed Woman, was published by Otago University Press in 2014. In 2020, Cooke's collection Upturned was published by The Cuba Press. This latest collection chronicles her life in and around Dunedin, and also Berlin where she visits her son. Nicholas Reid writes "Upturned is a fine and well-crafted collection – the product of a mature and thoughtful mind." Alongside her four books of published poetry she has self-published two novels both set in Murihiku Southland - much of her writing 'reflects the landscape and stories of her birthplace and heritage.' Her website can be found at kaymckenziecooke.org.

Biographical sources

• Email from Kay Cook, March 24, 2025 and 22 May 2025. www.read-nz.org/writers-files/cooke-kay-mckenzie; Te Awa o Kupu. Eds. Vaughan Rapatahana & Kiri Piahana-Wong. New Zealand: Penguin Random House New Zealand, 2023. 402.