A Kind of Magic

Helena Mayer is German Pākehā, queer, a writer and reader, and is studying for a BA in Sociology at Otago University. 

I recently attended a number of events at the Writers and Readers Festival, the Gala Night; Ora: Healing Ourselves; Reflecting on Kākā Point; Soapbox Political Poetry; A Birthday Celebration for the Poet Laureate; Indigenous Mark Makers and Te Awa o Kupu.

In Te Awa o Kupu, Vaughan Rapatahana said something along the lines of, “Let everyone swim in the unstoppable river of Māori writing”. The festival felt exactly like that to me: an unstoppable and generous river that I felt very honoured to dip into.

In a time of ongoing colonialism, here and around the world, it is crucial that we turn to indigenous knowledge, especially in stories.
At the same time, I think we as Pākehā should be mindful of how we take up space in Writers Festivals - at paid events, with our time, with the moments in which we laugh or don’t laugh, in the questions we ask.

Moments that stuck with me: Manaia’s spoken word in Reflecting on Kākā Point, Witi and Kiringāua singing together at the Gala Night, the swelling of emotion in the room of Indigenous Mark Makers.

Each time I stepped out on an event into the bustle of the Octagon, it was like being teleported to a completely different world, one with less creativity, complexity and hope. I wanted to stop passers-by and whisper, here, behind this door, for one hour, with this group of people, there was a kind of magic.