Authors

Mataio (Matt) Faafetai Malietoa Brown is an internationally acclaimed barber and hair artist and the founder of My Fathers Barbers, the barbershop where men go to heal. His dedication to reviving the craft of barbering has seen him teach and demonstrate all over the world. While he's cut everyone from All Blacks to members of Wu-Tang Clan, Matt believes his true calling is his work to redefine society's view of masculinity - and to help end the cycle of domestic violence affecting families throughout the world. Matt, a New Zealander of Samoan descent, together with his wife Sarah (Ngapuhi/Te Rarawa), founded the anti-violence movement She Is Not Your Rehab. In 2019, he outlined the kaupapa of She Is Not Your Rehab in a powerful TEDx Talk that continues to inspire today. Matt regularly collaborates with community and government organisations in New Zealand and abroad and hosts a men's anti-violence support group from his barbershop, enabling men to access free therapy and support. He is the creator and facilitator of a barbering programme taught in men's prisons throughout New Zealand and a Corrections NZ patron. He is also an ambassador for the It's Not OK campaign with the Ministry of Social Development. He was a 2020 Westfield Riccarton Local Hero and a finalist for the Kiwibank New Zealand Local Hero of the Year award. Matt and Sarah are proud parents to three and reside in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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James Brown's previous poetry collections are The Tip Shop (2022), Selected Poems (2020), Floods Another Chamber (2017), Warm Auditorium (2012), The Year of the Bicycle (2006), which was a finalist in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2007, Favourite Monsters (2002), Lemon (1999), and Go Round Power Please (1996), which won the Best First Book Award for Poetry. James works as an editor and teaches the Poetry Workshop at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington.

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Rob Brown is one of New Zealand's leading landscape photographers and writers. His photography and writing has appeared in many publications, such as the Montana Award-winning 'Classic Tramping in New Zealand'(1999) co-authored with Shaun Barnett, and 'New Zealand: The Essential Landscape'2011). 'Shelter from the Storm: the story of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts' (2012) and 'A Bunk for the Night' (2016 & 2021). Rob lives with his family in Wanaka and is currently the operations manager for the Backcountry Trust.

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EARLE BROWN graduated MBChB from Otago University in 1960. His plastic surgery training was at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland under the tutelage of Sir William Manchester and at Canniesburn Hospital in Glasgow. He was a staff member of the Plastic Surgical Unit at Middlemore from 1970 to 2005. MICHAEL KLAASSEN graduated with an MBChB from Otago University in 1980 and qualified as a plastic surgeon in 1990 after completing his training at Middlemore and Waikato Hospitals in New Zealand. Dr Earle Brown was his original mentor in plastic and reconstructive surgery in 1987.

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