Puna Wai Korero: An Anthology of Maori Poetry in English

(Paperback)

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In this pioneering anthology, two leading Maori poets and scholars collect together the major Maori poetic voices in English and let flow a wellspring of Maori poetry. From revered established writers as well as exciting new voices, the poems in Puna Wai Korero offer a broad picture of Maori 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 Maori. There are poems from all walks of life and 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. Puna Wai Korero collects work from the many iwi and hapu of Aotearoa as well as Maori 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 Potiki, 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 Maori poetry especially useful in schools.

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 Bio

Robert Sullivan (Ngapuhi) and Reina Whaitiri (Kai Tahu) have edited three previous award-winning anthologies with Albert Wendt: Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English (winner of the Montana New Zealand Book Award), 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 Hawaii Press, and Homeland: New Writing from America, the Pacific, and Asia (University of Hawaii Press). Reina Whaitiri (Kaitahu) was born in 1943 to a Pakeha mother and Maori father. Before retiring from teaching in 2008, she taught English literature at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and, before that, at the University of Auckland, where she also co-ordinated the University of Auckland Tertiary Education Foundation Programme that encouraged and prepared students for return to tertiary study. She is an editor and researcher of Maori and Pacific literature. Her major research interest is Maori women writers and she has published articles on being Maori and on Maori women's poetry and has co-edited two volumes of poetry by Maori and Pacific Island writers, Whetu Moana and Mauri Ola. She lives in Auckland with partner Albert Wendt.