Puna Wai Kōrero: An Anthology Of Māori Poetry In English

Author: Edited by: Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 49.99 NZD
  • : 9781869408176
  • : Auckland University Press
  • : UNKNOWN
  • :
  • : 0.816
  • : June 2014
  • : 230mm X 172mm
  • : New Zealand
  • : 60.0
  • : September 2014
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  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Edited by: Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan
  • :
  • : Paperback
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • : 811
  • : very good
  • :
  • : 304
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Barcode 9781869408176
9781869408176

Description

In this pioneering anthology, two leading Māori poets and scholars collect together many Māori poetic voices in English and let flow a wellspring of poetry. From revered established writers as well as exciting new voices, the poems in Puna Wai Kōrero offer a broad picture of Māori poetry in English. The voices are many and diverse: confident, angry, traditional, respectful, experimental, despairing and full of hope, expressing a range of poetic techniques and the full scope of what it is to be Māori. The anthology collects work from the many iwi and hapū of Aotearoa as well as Māori living in Australia and around the world, featuring the work of Hone Tuwhare, J. C. Sturm, Trixie Te Arama Menzies, Keri Hulme, Apirana Taylor, Roma Pōtiki, Hinemoana Baker, Tracey Tawhiao and others – as well as writers better known for forms other than poetry such as Witi Ihimaera, Paula Morris and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku. Short biographies are given for each poet, and the introduction, glossary and poem dates will make this taonga of Māori poetry especially useful in schools and other learning institutions. From Rangi Faith’s ‘Karakia to a silent island’ to Ben Brown claiming back Baxter’s ‘Maori Jesus’, Phil Kawana’s ‘Scenes from a council tenancy’ and Reihana Robinson’s rewrites of the Rona and the moon legend, Tuwhare’s lines on a snail shell and Jacq Carter’s lines on the Ōmaru River, there is much diversity in this kete. There are poems from all walks of life and using different modes of writing, laments for koro and hopes for mokopuna, celebrations of the land and anger at its abuse, retellings of myth and reclamations of history. From the chanted songs and oratory of a traditional culture, to engagement with the English language in the nineteenth century, and on into the cultural revival of the late twentieth century, Māori have always been deeply engaged with poetic forms, and Puna Wai Kōrero showcases that deep whakapapa and celebrates its current strength.

Awards

Shortlisted for Nga Kupu Ora Aotearoa Maori Book Awards: Te Tuhinga Auaha - Creative Writing 2015.

Reviews

"Maori artist Selwyn Muru's description of Hone Tuwhare's poetry in English, 'whakaaro Maori, kupu Pakeha' suggests that even though the words may be English, it's the thought that makes them Maori. 'English is our language too, ' he adds. Maori experiences and thoughts are given poetic voice and form in numerous ways - through words and gesture, music and dance, customary and contemporary materials and technologies. The best Maori poetry engages our senses, moves, and challenges us to think creatively. In this process we may learn more about ourselves and the world around us." --Moana Nepia

Author description

Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi) and Reina Whaitiri (Kāi Tahu) are the editors of Homeland: New Writing from America, the Pacific, and Asia, published by the University of Hawai‘i Press, and, with Albert Wendt, the award-winning Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English (winner of a Montana New Zealand Book Award) and Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English II (finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards), both published by Auckland University Press and the University of Hawai‘i Press. Reina Whaitiri is a scholar, editor and researcher on Māori and Pacific literature; she lives in Auckland. Robert Sullivan is the author of many award-winning volumes of poetry. He currently heads the Creative Writing programme at Manukau Institute of Technology.