Ngā pukapuka hou – What’s new in the Māori Reference Collection?

Three Māori women poets

Three wonderful new books by women Māori poets have just arrived in the Māori Reference collection and are currently on display in the General Reading Room of the Alexander Turnbull Library. They are: Anahera Maire Gildea’s (Ngāti Tukorehe) Sedition, Whai by newcomer Nicole Titihuia Hawkins (Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Ngāti Pāhauwera)  and Alice Te Punga Somerville’s (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) Always italicise: how to write while colonized.

Sedition by Anahera Maire Gildea

Gildea’s publication dedicated to ‘all mothers’, begins and ends with the riveting and tragic tale of the goddess Hinewaiapu, a very nice introduction to the rich and varied collection of 70 poems that sit in between. There are no holds barred in Gildea’s poetry as she provides a personal perspective to both historical and contemporary events, as in ‘The Trick’ and ‘Ihumātao’, as well as on more private woman-only matters as in ‘Entreaty’ and ‘ABC Poem’.

Her confronting style makes her storytelling all the more poignant, hilarious at times and totally relatable. The other distinctive feature is the beautiful way in which she weaves te reo Māori through the publication like a binding thread.

Sedition has been longlisted in the Ockham NZ Book Awards 2023, for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

‘Sedition’ by Anahera Maire Gildea

Whai by Nicole Titihuia Hawkins

Fresh, honest and playful are the offerings in Whai Hawkins’ first collection of poems. She delivers 40 exquisitely well-written wonderings/tellings of a young Māori woman making her way in the world. The book is structured using headings akin to those found in Matatini kapa haka festival programmes (Waiata tira, Whakaeke, Waiata Tawhito, Poi, Waiata-a-ringa, Haka, Whakawātea).

Hawkins engagingly articulates the emotions and raw feelings that arise in those moments when one is feeling marginalised, put on the spot, or thinking of and missing a loved one, hence ‘How to make a staunch Māori woman: a recipe’, ‘Māori uniform’, ‘Tithuia’s moko’ and ‘Typecast’ are standouts.

Whai was the winner of the Jessie Mackay Prize for the best first book of poetry, in the Ockham NZ Book Awards 2022

‘Whai’ by Nicole Titihuia Hawkins

Always italicise: how to write while colonized by Alice Te Punga Somerville

In this 3rd collection of 41 poems dedicated to her daughter, Titilia and divided into 4 sections titled ‘Reo’, ‘Invisible Ink’, ‘Mahi’ and ‘Aroha’, Alice Te Punga Somerville continues to share her life journey as an indigenous mother, poet and academic.

She explores what it means to ‘play out’ each of these roles in a world where being brown is both a private and a public struggle and constant negotiation. In addition to her creativity, like a memoir, she is delivering messages to family, friends, colleagues, allies and ‘others’ along the way, for example, ‘Anchor’, ‘Debris’ and ‘That is what it feels like’. I love all of the offerings in this book but am particularly struck by her intimate political piece ‘Swipe Left’ which is clever and think that ‘Firsts’ and ‘An indigenous woman scholar’s prayer’ are probably my favourites.

Always italicise: how to write while colonized has been longlisted in the Ockham NZ Book Awards 2023, for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

Always italicise: how to write while colonized by Alice Te Punga Somerville

Expressions of the female experience

The female experience, of expectation, disappointment, yearning, pain, violence, anger, resolution, love and hope is what resonates most from the works of these three women leaving this reader already eagerly awaiting their next koha!