Katuivei: Contemporary Pasifika Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand

To write poetry in New Zealand as a Pacific migrant is an act of wayfinding, a creative process of discovery and negotiation between cultural spaces. This collection of 137 poems by 89 Aotearoa-based Pacific poets explores that navigation. This significant collection ranges from long-established voices such as Albert Wendt, Selina Tusitala Marsh and David Eggleton and the powerful newer voices of poets such as Tusiata Avia, Courtney Sina Meredith, Karlo Mila and Grace Iwashita-Taylor to new and emerging voices. Deep and rich, like Moana Oceania itself, it shows Pasifika poetry to be in a constant state of ’ old and new’, of haharagi and lelea’ mafua, a lively and evolving continuum.

Vaughan Rapatahana (Te Atiawa, Ngati Te Whiti) is a poet, novelist, writer and anthologist widely published across several genres in both his main languages, te reo Maori and English. He is a critic of the agencies of English language proliferation and the consequent decimation of Indigenous tongues. His most recent poetry collection, written in te reo Maori (with English language ’ translations’ ), is titled te pahikahikatanga/incommensurability. It was published by Flying Islands Books in Australia in 2023. David Eggleton is a poet and writer of Rotuman, Tongan and Pakeha heritage. His collection The Conch Trumpet (Otago University Press, 2015) won the 2016 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. He also received the 2016 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry. David was the Aotearoa New Zealand Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2021. Mere Taito is a poetry, flash fiction and short story writer and scholar of Rotuman heritage who is based in Kirikiriroa Hamilton. Her work has appeared in Landfall, Bonsai, and Best New Zealand Poems as well as in academic journals such as International Education Journal.