Tū te ihiihi, tū te wanawana, e poho kererū ana!
Announcement of inaugural Curator Māori for
Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival
The Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival draws strength and inspiration from our Ōtepoti community and, as our festival grows, we are deepening our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This year we are building a bi-cultural platform to showcase ideas and work important across Aotearoa in 2023. And we have help!
We could not be more proud to share the news that we have two Curators Māori working on a dedicated stream of programme events that amplify Māori voices in literature.
Angela Wanhalla and Jacinta Ruru are award-winning professors at the University of Otago, both accomplished scholars in their trained disciplines, authors of books, and curators with Jeanette Wikaira (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāpuhi) of Te Takarangi, a national programme that curates and celebrates 200 years of Māori non-fiction books.
Angela researches the impact of colonialism on whānau and communities and has published extensively on Māori women’s history. Her publications include Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand (Auckland University Press, 2013) and, with Lachy Paterson, He Reo Wāhine: Māori Women’s Voices from the Nineteenth Century (Auckland University Press, 2017).
Jacinta researches Indigenous peoples and the law. She co-authored Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies (Oxford University Press, 2010) and co-edited Ngā Kete Mātauranga: Māori Scholars at the Research Interface (Otago University Press, 2021).
Other than Māori and Indigenous books (which they read a lot of!) Angela likes to read cosy mysteries, literary fiction and books about photography. Jacinta likes to read memoir, drama fiction and books about adventure travel.
We will be sharing plenty of news about our guest authors, programme and events over the next couple of months – for now, we can promise it will be a wonderful festival packed with celebrations, a big birthday party, food for the body and the soul, politics, stories, emerging writers and literary legends!