Authors

No biography

No biography

No biography

No biography

Zech Soakai (Poutasi, Upolu, Samoa / Pangai, Ha’apai, Tonga) is a proud tusitala, kaiako, village builder and warrior raiser with ten years’ experience accumulated in the classrooms of South Auckland as a facilitator, educator and more recently Kaiārahi (Dean). He is also a spoken word poet and interdisciplinary artist who, since leaving the classroom full-time, is now broadly entrenched in the work of social change through storytelling. 

'They Whisper in my Blood' is Franciska Soares’ debut into the world of fiction, after having achieved undreamt-of success in the world of non-fiction with Hachette, UK. Her statement: This move to fiction has been influenced by an artistic impulse that has lain dormant in the years bookended by ‘life’ – the same life that has metabolized in a dark place and from which I have drawn on, now that it has ripened. It’s time for that exilic ideator, that person who has hitherto stood outside of, looking in, constantly cross-examining and pondering the questionable societal norms that exist, to come into her own, I decided. As a child and a teenager right up until my (teenage!) marriage I wrote and got some recognition – I have a letter from the President of India that says: ‘I hope you grow useful to the country’, which speaks to my fresh-faced, exuberant prolificity . . . A decades-old time lag is what I draw on - the turning points, the high-noons, the knife-edges, the quotidian - all of it experienced during my chequered life lived in three disparate countries: India, The UAE and now New Zealand; as well as my confusing (to me!) ethnicity (Portuguese, Italian, Indian, Kiwi). This is me, speaking through my character Rodrigo in 'They Whisper in my Blood': “Whatever language I speak in, people think, it must be 'rented'. Born mid-flight, with feet in two disparate ethnicities, I am always in denial of one of them. Two rich cultures – do they endure? No! They trickle away like water on the oiled feathers of foreign […] I don’t decide which race I am. My hair, my accent, my eyes, my skin, circumstances and the people I happen to be with at that moment in time, decide that for me!” Hence, I would go so far as to say that mine is a marginalized voice: That of a woman seemingly unconnected to the milieu in which she has often found herself in, and thus 'different'; with an accent that immediately stuffs her into a pre-ordained, suboptimal, claustral box. Its walls, if one cared to inspect them (so few do), bear claw marks for all the times she’s had to fight for purchase to heft herself out – when partisanship happened to be distracted. If one cared to look more closely, they would find some existential DNA clinging imperishable under her fingernails. In returning to writing I have found my native language, one that has afforded me an ‘in’ to be in. Art, of which writing is one, is not a torch, it is said, directed at the root of things, but a subtle mist where the unseeable is revealed. This, my most Eastern of attributes, has helped me weave mysticism, poetry and the ineffable into my prose. Has helped me find my home.” Franciska lives quietly in Queenstown, New Zealand, the supposed ‘Adventure capital of the world’.

Dreydon Sobanja is children's picture book author who has now moved taken on the challenge of a book of NZ athlete biographies about New Zealand runners. Dreydon has had a love for running since he was four years old, when he saw John Walker win his 1500-metre gold in Montreal and has emulated Sir John by providing inspirational sessions to schools and libraries around the country.Dreydon has previously self-published three New Zealand books to inspire children to dream big, through his organisation Inspired Kids Ltd; Bruce Wants to Go Faster (9780473360627), Ed Climbs a Big Hill (9780473227838) and Jean Dreams of Flying (9780473227845).Fellow Aucklander and urban artist, Murray Dewhurst, has added clever design elements that make this book a Kiwi keepsake. Murray was also the designer of Bruce Wants to Go Faster, which made the Storyline's Notable Books List for 2017.

No biography

Jessica Hansell (Ngapuhi/Samoa) is a writer, multimedia artist and musician from Auckland, long known by her rap nickname Coco Solid. She is the creator of cult Maori cartoon Aroha Bridge with screenwriting credits ranging from comedy Wellington Paranormal to indigenous soap Ahikaroa and is a long-time member of Taika Waititi's Piki Films, producers of her forthcoming science-fiction series Jupiter Park. As Coco Solid, Parallel Dance Ensemble, Badd Energy and Fanau Spa, she has gained a loyal international music following and now heads artist-led record label and production house Kuini Qontrol, which also makes independent film, audio and animation projects. She is co-director of the Onehunga community space Wheke Fortress. Hansell was named the Fulbright Creative New Zealand Pacific writer in residence in 2018, studying at the University of Hawai'i, where she started writing How To Loiter In A Turf War while researching gentrification in the Pacific. The following year Coco was named a national Arts Laureate by The Arts Foundation NZ. Across all mediums she consistently strives to prioritise Oceanic narratives, wahine, LGBTQIA+ expression and underground creatives of colour.

No biography

Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) is a writer, musician and taonga pūoro practitioner living in Pōneke. Her first book, Tōku Pāpā, was published in 2021 and longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. She has had poetry published in Aotearoa, Australia, America and Antarctica. In 2020 she released her debut album, Pōneke, and in 2021, Bird Like Men, as part of the group Tararua. She is currently completing a PhD in public health, focusing on the use of taonga pūoro in hauora Māori.

Ruby Solly