'We are word weavers': Gina Cole discusses Pasifika writing

I am excited about Pasifika writing. We are natural storytellers. Storytelling is an ancestral, scientific, cultural practice observed across the Pacific Ocean. An integral part of our interconnected whakapapa. 

As a Pacific writer I was once asked which writers inspire me. My answer was, and still is, Pacific women poets, including Selina Tusitala Marsh, Tusiata Avia, Karlo Mila, Serie Barford and many others. I think this is because Pacific women have always been weavers and holders of story, distilling our lives, science and knowledge into patterns from our environment and our history. All over the Pacific, women use memory and knowledge to weave pandanus and other natural, and more recently man-made, fibres into storied mats, fans, kete. Pacific women make tapa and masi from the bark of the paper mulberry tree and print story onto the soft fibre. We bear story on our skin in tatau. We carry story in the spoken word, in talanoa. These brilliant women poets continue to inspire and encourage me with their bravery and sheer output of wonderful works. They act as guiding stars not only lighting pathways for us to follow, but also gifting us with their own unique writing journeys to enjoy and read.

 As guest editor for Kete Books' 2026 Pasifika books campaign I am delighted to be featuring many Pacific poets. It is wonderful to present an interview with former poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh, the current Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow.  She talks about her experience of Menton,walking the trails and hillsides into Italy by the Mediterranean sea and working on Fetū, her eagerly anticipated work on the first five ‘foremothers of Pacific poetry’.

One of the sisterhood of Pacific poets, Karlo Mila, provides her insights into the work of an illustrious Pacific trio whose poetry collections were Ockham-longlisted this year. Tusiata Avia’s Giving birth to my father (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2025), Serie Barford’s Standing on My Shadow (Anahera Press, 2025), and Nafanua Purcell Kersel’s Black Sugarcane (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2025).

Former poet laureate David Eggleton reviews Amber Esau’s debut poetry collection Hungus, (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2026). This collection is hot off the press and I can’t wait to read it. It is described as ‘a work of world-building that draws on myth, pop culture, pūrakau and science fiction,’ all genres which are dear to my heart.

As a writer of fiction, I wish there was more of it on the list of recently published books by Pacific writers in Aotearoa. Engari, ahakoa he iti he pounamu – though it may be small it is of great value. Which is why I am thrilled and eager for the upcoming publication of Shana Chandra’s literary debut Banjara (Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand, April 2026). This novel focuses on the Indo-Fijian indenture system by which British colonial rulers brought South Asian people to Fiji as indentured labourers to work in the sugar cane fields. The book is a reimagining of Indo-Fijian Girmitiya history, a major thread in the weave of Fijian culture.

Next year I hope to see more Pacific fiction published, but I am heartened by the wide-ranging mix of excellent memoir, non-fiction and children’s books. 

Richard Pamatatau reviews Barbara Dreaver’s much-awaited memoir Be Brave: The Life of a Pacific Correspondent (Awa Press, 2026). Dreaver, a multi-award-winning television journalist, recounts her work, sometimes putting herself at risk, covering stories in the Pacific over the last thirty years. We are privileged to be able to provide an extract from her phenomenal story.

From the Academy comes an anthology of essays edited by Sereana Naepi, Oceans Between us: Pacific Peoples and Racism in Aotearoa (Auckland University Press, 2025). These essays investigate the complex and far-reaching topic of racism experienced by Pacific peoples in Aotearoa and the Pacific. The editor of this important book provides an interview on her creative inspirations.

As a passionate fan of martial arts, I love that Ite Lemalu’s Pro Wrestling's Pacific Bloodline: Family Over Everything (2025) documents the legacy of Polynesian wrestlers who reshaped the global wrestling industry. Centred on the Maivia and Anoa’i dynasties, Lemalu traces how Pacific Island wrestlers fought for visibility and inspired new generations. This is the first pro-wrestling book to be accepted into the national library of Te Papa Tongarewa, Aotearoa’s national museum. It was selected for its cultural value as part of the nation’s official record of Pacific storytelling. 

We are also privileged to provide an interview from Zech Soakai, a guest curator of this year’s Auckland Writers’ Festival 2026 programme. Zech talks about his curator’s role, his vision of bringing Pacific communities with him and storytelling as social change. On working in high performing spaces like AWF that also scale deep, Zech states ‘the roots of the tree are just as deep as the tree is high.’ An apt metaphor for the continuing growth of Pacific writing.

Tangaroa Paul’s children’s book Rere Atu ki Poronihia / Flight to Polynesia is written in te reo and translated into English. The book is illustrated by Luca Tu’avao Walton. It is the story of a kapa haka group from Aotearoa who travel to Hawai’i. Luca gives an interview on their creative inspirations.

We are word weavers, artists across many genres, navigating story, storying navigation and our stories are far from finished.