Tauranga Girls’ College proudly hosted the launch of the esteemed Lee Murray’s latest poetry book- “Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud”. The event took place in the TGC Library, on Thursday 23rd of May.

The evening consisted of a panel discussion between acclaimed poets and writers, led by Lee Murray and Renee Liang. Once the writers had shared their work, a discussion was then opened to students and all panelists to comment.

Three of TGC’s student poets were involved - Aiza Mustasam (Year 11), Kyla Chen (Year 12), and Loretta Glass-Cooney (Year 12). The students asked a variety of questions to Renee and Lee. An important question that came up was, “Why are women’s narratives difficult to access? What are the barriers? How can we overcome those barriers?”

Lee and Renee’s responses highlighted how it’s a struggle to hear stories of women; especially Asian women. They both agreed that women believe their stories aren’t worth telling and to overcome this problem, a search of history is needed to bring these people and centre them in the story to bring the injustices done to them alive. Renee quotes, “We need to centre them, so they’re not just the sidekick.”.

After the panel discussions, the students read out their poetry. Their poems were immensely loved by the audience. Renee read out a couple of her poems, which were humourous, yet also heart-warming. Lee read an excerpt from Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud and a Terzanelle, Fox Girl. Throughout the poetry readings, the audience remained captivated.

The event was a huge success and provided valuable advice to our three student poets. A huge thank you to Lee Murray and Renee Liang for organising this beautiful event!

Written by Aiza Mustasam