Bloody Woman: 2021

'Bloody Woman gives voice to my lived experience, to the overlooked, to the underrepresented and to the exceptionally complex, multifaceted and contradictory experience of being a woman.' This wayfinding set of essays explores the overlap of being Samoan and a woman, as experienced 'from diaspora', by acclaimed writer and critic Lana Lopesi. Writing on ancestral ideas of womanhood appears alongside contemporary reflections on women's experiences and the Pacific. These often deeply personal essays amount to a complex, rich and multi-layered book. Playful, speculative and far-sighted, these essays are written to support 'the narratives not yet written' and the new generations to come. As Lopesi writes, 'I hope that in the simple act of articulating something, I will both open space and leave room for others to tell their stories in their way.' With the world confronting fresh questions of gender, race and identity, Bloody Woman opens up new horizons for thinking and writing in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.