WOMAD is Back: 20 Year anniversary - announcing the line up on 20 October

WOMAD 2023 will be announcing their line up on 20 October - Official Programme launch, plus we've got some teaser Music Announcements, STEAM, World of Words, Book Club, and so much more!

Get ready to celebrate #20years with us at WOMAD NZ 2023

As part of the World of Words programme, the WOMAD Poetry Slam 2023 showcases performance poets, putting them in the spotlight on the World of Words Stage, Kunming Garden.

A much-loved part of the festival programme, the Poetry Slam competition is all about poetry as a performance, a celebration of beats, verse, quips and rhythms that take poems from the page to the stage.

To celebrate National Poetry Day, organisers are opening up Poetry Slam Applications for 2023 with a message from the delightful Penny Ashton to all WOMAD’s wordsmiths.

The Slam Schedule 

Saturday, March 18 - 4 pm, Kunming Garden

The contestants, festival-goers, will deliver their original spoken words in the hope of being crowned the WOMAD Slam Champ. WOMAD audience response plays an essential role in the judges’ scoring - so get along and cheer on this poetic fiesta.

Sunday, March 19 - 4 pm, Kunming Garden

The WOMAD Slam Champ will perform their winning piece, followed by a slam session from our world-renowned judges and seasoned slammers.

Prepare to be surprised, entertained and provoked by their lyrical genius moments, passionate prose and rhythmic rhymes.

The 2023 Poetry Slam Champ will take home a double VIP WOMAD 3-DAY PASS for 2024!

Kiwi singer Margaret Urlich, 57, dies after living with cancer for over two years

“She had a level of sophistication that marked her out,” he said. “Marg was super stylish, she oozed confidence but underneath, she was a female who had to overcome her shyness to try to make it in a male-dominated industry. And she did.” - Peter Urlich

Aria award-winning singer  Margaret Urlich and one of Aotearoa's most successful musicians, has died aged 57.  

Born in Auckland, Urlich died on Monday of cancer at her home in New South Wales’ Southern Highlands.

Urlich’s condition was known to her friends and colleagues, but kept private from the public ey at her whanau's request.

She came to our attention in 1985, fronting the new wave outfit Peking Man, before gaining even more fame as a member of the all-female pop group When The Cat’s Away. 

'Melting Pot' went to No 1 on the New Zealand charts and sealed their fame as a go to live act. They were was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in December 2021.

“Margaret was a true and rare talent,” Dianne Swann (When The Cat’s Away) told Stuff.co.nz. “She lit up any room, and if you were on stage with her you had to lift your game. She was a uniquely gifted person, and I will always miss her.”

Urlich moved to Australia in 1988, to pursue her solo career.  Her debut solo 'Escaping' made her the first female solo artist to top the NZ charts, and her debut 'Safety in Numbers' netted her an Aria award in 1991 - Best breakthrough artist.

That same year, her vocals were featured on Daryl Braithwaite’s megahit 'The Horses' (12 weeks in the Australian top 10).