Writers festival welcomes outstanding line-up of Māori speakers

A strong line-up of Māori speakers and writers is featured at this year’s Auckland Writers Festival.

First-time guest curator and author Shilo Kino (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Te Ata) says it was important for her to carry on the legacy of former curators Michael and Matariki Bennett in bringing together all sorts of Māori artists and storytellers.

“I wanted to be able to indigenise the space to attract people that typically wouldn’t come to these festivals.

“There is so much richness and diversity and lots of different viewpoints within te ao Māori that I think it’s important to encompass it all, and not just the one or two voices that might usually be called upon to speak at these kinds of festivals."

Broadcaster and author Stacey Morrison (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa and Pākehā) will host a kōrero with acclaimed author Witi Ihimaera (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe) this Saturday, May 16.

Morrison says it is an honour to be part of this year’s line-up and that in her preparation “it has been incredible to understand Papa Witi’s process as a writer”.

She says the Auckland Writer’s Festival provides an important platform for Māori storytellers.

“It hasn’t always been our space but more mindfully it’s becoming more welcoming.

“It is a good and energising environment and the more Māori that turn up, the more comfortable we can all feel and feel like we belong there . . . so it’s important that we take the opportunities to be there”.

Kino says she hopes all types of audiences, both Māori and non-Māori, can learn something from the range of Māori speakers and panels.

This year’s How To Be a Good Ancestor panel features Tāme Iti, Richard Shaw, Margaret Mutu and Gabriella Brayne, and is grounded in Indigenous principles.

“The principle of seven generations encourages people to really look beyond their lifetime and look at what they want to leave for our mokopuna.

“It encourages us all to be more united . . . which is what we need right now with everything that is going on politically and socially not only in our country, but the world,” says Kino.

This year the Auckland Writers Festival runs from May 12 to 17 and is expected to attract more than 85,000 guests of all ages.

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