Poet laureate comes to Featherston
New Zealand's best-selling Poet Laureate, Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh ONZM, is heading for Featherston. The acclaimed writer will take part in Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 6 – 9 May. By Simon Burt
Selina is a Waiheke Island resident, Associate Professor at Auckland University, avid kickboxer, marathon runner, and advocate for Pacific women's writing. But she will be in the Wairarapa doing the thing she loves most – performing her poetry.
As an 11-year old, Selina was captivated by poet Sam Hunt when he came to perform at her school, and his influence on her work is unapologetically clear. “My early attempts at poetry were like Spike Milligan meets Pamela Ayres meets Sam Hunt,” she says. “I liked their sense of fun, the rhyme and rhythm, telling a story in a humorous way.”
Selina's first published poetry collection, Fast Talking PI, won a slew of awards. It was received with praise from critics and admiration from other writers. Her second, 2013's Dark Sparring, moved the NZ Listener's Lynley Edmaedes to say, “This collection puts Marsh at the vanguard of contemporary Pacific literature and cements her place as one of the most important poetic voices of her generation.” In 2019 Selina wrote and illustrated a graphic memoir, Mophead,the title referring to the taunts she received from primary school bullies about her barely-tamed frizzy hair. Sam Hunt's visit with his own unruly locks inspired Selina to unleash hers – her wild, often colourful hair is now a trademark.
Selina was NZ's Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019. The Laureate is appointed to be the public presence of New Zealand poetry, a role that the bubbly, personable Dr Tusitala Marsh might have been born for. Every Laureate is presented with a tokotoko (Māori orator's stick) carved by Hawke's Bay artist Jacob Scott. Selina considers the tokotoko an expression of her poetic form. “I've taken it to twelve different countries,” she says. “I've told people the Aotearoa Laureate story, got them to hold the tokotoko, explained its eleven composite parts. I think it's the best thing I got out of the Laureateship.” She has written Tokotoko Tales: A Poetic Memoir, based on each of the stick's parts. “It's partly a sequel to Mophead, but also a way to take the Laureate story out to the wider world – it's not that well known.”
Last year Selina took a road trip to the Kaipara Harbour to visit Sam Hunt, with whom she has formed a firm friendship. “I wanted him to bless my tokotoko with his presence. We spoke poetry over it and enjoyed some fine red wine.”
Selina will play a large part at Booktown and is also planning to get some writing done at the country retreat of event stalwarts Peter and Mary Biggs. “They're my mates, so I kind-of bargained with them,” she says. “Put me up for a couple of nights and I'll do the festival. I've been trying to keep time aside at these events for the 'making' – you give out a lot when performing, so it's a case of getting something back to keep the stories circulating.”
The gentle, musical performance style of Selina Tusitala Marsh allows her strong messages to creep up on you by stealth. Weighty issues such as colonialism, privilege and feminism emerge from a deceptively light delivery – as a listener you are effectively seduced.
Selina believes that performing is the lifeblood of poetry, that it's part of the art form. “There are page poets and stage poets, and I guess I like to combine them, but performing my poems is the way I keep them fresh. I love experimenting, I love playing – if you can hold your art with an open palm you never know what might fall in to it.”
What’s on
Featherston Booktown Karukatea 2021 from 6 – 9 May promises to be one of the most diverse, dazzling and entertaining festivals yet with 58 events and 98 presenters. Highlights include the popular Fish’n’Chip Supper, an evening of music and poetry with Selina Tusitala Marsh. There’s been a revolution in poetry – if you don’t believe it, check out the provocative Show Ponies, Hear Me Roar and Late Night Lit: The Poetry Collision – featuring emerging and established poets at their entertaining and challenging best.
Contemporary issues aired in panel discussion include ‘Do Artists Morals Matter?’ which promises to be a feisty discussion of the pros and cons of cancel culture chaired by broadcaster Ian Fraser. The Relevance of the Treaty in 2021 brings former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson and historians Claudia Orange and Te Maire Tau to the table.
Vincent O’Sullivan, one of New Zealand’s most respected writers and poets, discusses his latest book with Peter Biggs. And you’ll need to get in quick to book the Mothers Day afternoon tea, featuring women authors Nicky Pellegrino, Rose Lu, Shona Riddell and Philippa Cameron on finding their place in the world as a writer.
Booktown festival favourite, Maori poet and actor Te Kahu Rolleston returns to give a free workshop on how to unleash your poetic talents. Novelist Shilo Kino and Liz Mellish discuss what it means to be Maori in Aotearoa NZ in 2021. And Ra Smith leads a line-up of storytellers who reveal the mythology, symbolism, and history of Pae Tu Mokai/Featherston. If you want an inside track on opinion writing, check out ‘I’ve been called lippy: Te whe’ featuring three generations of Maori women on opinion writing..
If you are a would-be writer, poet or self-publisher, you’ll find plenty of workshops offering practical help and advice on everything from papermaking to marketing your book. There’s plenty to interest children of all ages and young adults as well, with guest speakers, storytellers (including a Puppy Dog Picnic with Baz Macdonald) and activities. For full programme details, www.booktown.org.nz
