Nelson Arts Festival Pukapuka Talks Nelson Arts Festival Pukapuka Talks

Join singer, taonga pūoro musician and writer Ariana Tikao, photographer Matt Calman and local writer Nuki Takao for a kōrero about the stunning illustrated nonfiction book, Mokorua: Ngā kōrero mō tōku moko kauae – My story of moko kauae, which is a revealing and emotional account of how Ariana received her moko kauae. Held in conjunction with Kanohi Kitea, an exhibition that presents tā moko amongst tangata whenua.

Ariana Tikao grew up in suburban Christchurch in the 1970s and ’80s surrounded by te ao Pākehā. This book tells the story of Ariana exploring her whakapapa, her whānau history and her language. This is one woman’s story, but it is interwoven with the revival of language, tikanga and identity among Kāi Tahu whānau over the past 30 years.

Ariana’s journey culminates in her decision to take on Mokorua – her moko kauae – from tā moko artist Christine Harvey. After an emotionally charged ceremony that brought together whānau, young and old, for songs and tautoko, hugs and tears, Ariana writes: ‘Our whānau had reached another milestone in the decolonisation process – or, rather, in our journey of reindigenising ourselves, becoming who we always were.’

Through Ariana’s words, te reo Māori text by her hoa tāne Ross Calman, and an intimate, moving photo essay by Matt Calman, Mokorua reveals the journey of one woman reclaiming her Māori identity. Ariana will be joined by Matt and local writer Nuki Takao to kōrero about her experiences and the creation of the pukapuka.

Commune: Chasing a Utopian Dream in Aotearoa captures the spirit of the counter-culture movement in the Motueka Valley from the perspective of Olive Jones, one of its founding members.

Olive Jones was a teenager when she joined a group of hippies, idealists and subsistence farmers, determined to reject their parents’ way of life. Influenced by the counter-culture movement sweeping New Zealand in the 1970s, they purchased an idyllic farm close to Nelson. Their experiments in communal living were an attempt to achieve social, sexual and physical liberation from the rigid world in which they grew up. Ultimately, without rules and membership, their unstructured community failed to thrive and fulfil its early vision.

Jones‘s highly personal and candid memoir recalls the dreams, madness, humour and hard graft of living an alternative lifestyle in the Motueka Valley. Chaired by Kerry Sunderland.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Witi Ihimaera’s Tangi, the first novel written by a Māori author to be published in New Zealand. Six fellow Māori writers - Emma Espiner (MC), Vaughan Rapatahana, Ruby Solly, Donna McLeod, Arihia Latham and Airana Ngarewa - join Witi at this special gala event to celebrate Aotearoa storytelling. The kōrero begins, after the mihi whakatau and a short clip from Whale Rider (the stage play) at 07:55.

To commemorate Witi’s contribution to Aotearoa literature, Penguin Books NZ have published two new anthologies of Māori writing this year: Te Awa o Kupu and Ngā Kupu Wero.

These two passionate and vibrant anthologies, which have been edited by Witi, Vaughan Rapatahana and Kiri Piahana-Wong, feature more than 80 contemporary Māori writers. Together they reveal that the irrepressible river of words flowing from Māori writers today shows us who and what we are.

It all started 50 years ago when Witi’s debut novel, Tangi, was published. A landmark literary event, it went on to win the James Wattie Book of the Year Award. Witi was just 29 years old at the time.

Revisiting the text for this special anniversary edition, Witi has added richer details and developed the nascent themes that have continued to preoccupy him over a lifetime of writing. As part of the 50-year celebration, Penguin Books NZ has also re-released Witi‘s first book, the short story collection, Pounamu, Pounamu (first published in 1972).

At this special event, Emma Espiner will facilitate a kōrero with Witi and Vaughan about Māori storytelling’s upsurge in New Zealand literature, interspersed with performances by some of the contributors to the two anthologies: Emma herself, Arihia Latham, Donna McLeod, Airana Ngarewa and Ruby Solly.

Award-winning doctor and writer, Dr Emma Espiner, discusses her stunning debut memoir, There’s a cure for this, with Arihia Latham. Together they kōrero about hurt and healing, love and loss, life and death, motherhood and medicine.

From the quietly perceived inequities of her early life to hard-won revelations as a Māori medical student and junior doctor during the Covid-19 pandemic, Emma‘s story is a candid and moving examination of what it means to be human when it seems like nothing less than superhuman will do. Her story is an exploration of hurt and healing, love and loss, life and death, motherhood and medicine. With Latham, who is a rongoa Māori practitioner, they will also explore how incorporating te ao Māori in our healthcare system could benefit us all.

Emma Ling Sidnam, Airana Ngarewa and Colleen Maria Lenihan discuss their stunning debut books, and reveal what gave them the courage to write, with Paula Morris.

Join acclaimed author and creative writing teacher Paula Morris in a discussion with the three debut authors she hand-picked as new authors she predicts will change the literary landscape in Aotearoa forever. They are writers you can’t afford not to read.

Emma Ling Sidnam’s debut novel, Backwaters, is a tender, nuanced novel about the bittersweet search for belonging. Airana Ngarewa’s debut novel The Bone Tree is a stunning coming of age story about two brothers who must learn to survive on their own in the world. With gritty lyricism, The Bone Tree gives voice to characters on the margins of society – and it considers the question of how we can best protect the ones we love. Kōhine, the short story collection by Colleen Maria Lenihan (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), juxtaposes Tokyo’s salarymen, sex workers and schoolgirls with rongoā healers, lone men and rural matriarchs of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Rebecca Priestley discusses her new book, End Times, which is part memoir/part road trip exploring climate science, climate denial and belief systems, with Jude Watson.

What do the Christian right, natural health practitioners and farmers have in common? Rebecca Priestley examines this question and more in End Times, a work of creative nonfiction that interweaves two stories. In one, Priestley explores two of her teenage years, when in the late 1980s she and her best friend Maz became born-again Christians. Evangelists were preaching about the end times, convinced that the Pope was the Antichrist and the EFT-POS cards were the beginning of the 666 system.

This often dramatic experience is countered with a contemporary journey – a 2021 road trip with the same friend – to the West Coast, a part of New Zealand where the then mayor was a climate change denier, locals distrusted the Covid-19 vaccine, there were looming threats of both sea level rise and a statistically overdue massive earthquake, and conspiracy theories abounded. In the book, Priestley interrogates fake news, disinformation, conspiracy theories, science and why people believe what they believe.