Chris Tse (he/him) was born and raised in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. ‘Tse’ is pronounced ‘teece’ (it rhymes with ‘peace’).
Chris studied film and English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, where he also completed an MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. In 2022, he was named the 13th New Zealand Poet Laureate. In January 2024, his term as Poet Laureate was extended to the end of August 2025.
His poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction have been recorded for radio and widely published in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies, including Ōronogohau | Best New Zealand Poems, Turbine | Kapohau, Landfall, Sport, The New Zealand Listener, Asian Cha, Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, Sweet Mammalian, Cordite Poetry Review, Poetry, & Change and The Spinoff.
He is one of three poets included in the joint collection AUP New Poets 4 (Auckland University Press, 2011).
Chris’ first full-length poetry collection, How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, was published by Auckland University Press in September 2014. In 2016, Snakes was a finalist in the poetry category at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, where it received the Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry.
In March 2018, Auckland University Press published his second collection HE’S SO MASC. The collection was critically acclaimed and was included in the New Zealand Herald‘s Best Books of 2018 and The Spinoff‘s 20 Best Poetry Books of 2018.
Chris’ third collection, Super Model Minority, was published by Auckland University Press in March 2022. It was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry (2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards) and was a finalist for the Gay Poetry Award at the 35th Lambda Literary Awards.
His fourth collection, Dance-Floor Romance, will be published in September 2026.
He and Emma Barnes co-edited Out Here: An anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ writers from Aoteaora (Auckland University Press, 2021). This landmark book is the first major anthology of writing by queer Aotearoa writers.
A frequent panelist and performer at literary festivals throughout New Zealand, Chris has also appeared at international festivals, including BBC’s Contains Strong Language (Leeds, UK), Cheltenham Literature Festival (UK), Poetry International (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (Bali), Iowa City Book Festival (Iowa City, U.S.A.), Ghosted World: An Uncanceled Asian American Literature Festival (Washington D.C, U.S.A.), Emerging Writers Festival (Melbourne, Australia), EnQueer (Sydney, Australia), National Young Writers’ Festival (Newcastle, Australia), Queensland Poetry Festival (Brisbane, Australia), Brisbane Writers Festival, and Melbourne Writers Festival. He is a founding member of the poetry collective Show Ponies.
In 2024, Chris was a fellow of the International Writing Program’s Fall Residency at the University of Iowa. In 2025, he was a Nederlands Letterenfonds writer in residence and the Arts Queensland Malouf Poet-in-Residence. In 2026, he was a Michael King Writers Centre resident.
Chris Tse 