On Friday the 26th of May, Tusiata Avia came to Te Puna Wai o Waipapa to speak to interested senior students. Tusiata is a well-known Ōtautahi poet and writer.

She has a Masters in creative writing and has published several books including poetry collections and children’s books. One of our year thirteen English classes had studied Tusiata’s poem, “The City Fathers”, and we were very privileged to have Tusiata perform her poem and answer questions about that work. Our Pasifika students and members of our Kapa Haka group who attended loved having such a powerful role model at school and made the most of the opportunity to talk to Tusiata after her session.

It’s not often that you get to meet the author of a text you have studied in class, and Tusiata’s visit provided valuable insight into her motivations for writing the poem and the ideas she was exploring in the poem. Tusiata comes across as very gentle and kind and it was interesting to see how she uses her writing to express ideas that can be provocative and raw.

She mentioned in her talk that her writing was a way to express things she may not be able to express in her everyday life. Poetry feels like a safe space to Tusiata. As she put it, “Who reads poetry anyway?” Obviously, some people do, as Tusiata has been the recipient of numerous writing fellowships and awards for her work. As an audience, we were struck by how powerful her poetry was and more than one person left the room with a newfound appreciation for poetry and the power of the written word. E rere ana ngā mihi, Tusiata!