‘We need Ma¯ ori to tell all our stories’
Author’s joy at first Ma¯ ori Writers festival, held in Rotorua
Ma¯ori journalist and author Shilo Kino spoke candidly about her experiences as a writer at the first Ma¯ori Writers Festival in Rotorua this month.
Her article, A Writer’s Festival Beyond the White and Privileged, for Newsroom, was published in May last year and was a catalyst for the event.
“When I went to my first writers festival — just as someone who loves reading and writing as a Ma¯ori — I felt so uncomfortable,” Kino said.
“I felt uncomfortable because it was such a Pakeha space.
“The writers were speaking in mostly Pakeha and they didn’t speak to me.
“The people that were going to these events were all Pakeha, so it didn’t feel like a safe space for me.”
A few years after attending the event Kino said she was invited back, this time as an author.
“When I presented my book to the kids the majority were Pakeha.
“It made me feel really rangirua, in two minds, about that because I wrote my book for Ma¯ ori. But if Ma¯ ori aren’t reading my words what is the point? So I wrote an article about why we need a Ma¯ori writers festival.
“I think Ma¯ori have had this whakaaro for years but someone saw it in Rotorua. They decided to put on the Kupu Festival, which is happening a year later from when the article was written.”
The Kupu Ma¯ori Writers Festival brought many Ma¯ori creatives and writers together for the first time.
“I feel really honoured to be a part of that process, but I do want to say that it’s not just me that did this,” Kino said.
“I just wrote words and that led to change,” Kino said.
Her book, The Po¯rangi Boy, won the Young Adult Fiction Award at the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2021.
The story is about a boy called Niko who is labelled crazy because of his beliefs about a taniwha in a thermal spring.
He goes on to protect and fight for the land.
“He kind of finds his rightful place as kaitiaki as tangata whenua and he goes on to protect the land.
“Not many of our Ma¯ori kids really know who they are as kaitiaki as tangata whenua and the power in that. His journey is about finding that and finding who he is.
“Once he does, he becomes this confident young man who ends up leading his community.”
The festival celebrated a diverse range of Ma¯ori authors but it also highlighted the importance of Ma¯ori taking ownership of their stories.
“Our tupuna were storytellers so we need more Ma¯ori authors, more Ma¯ori writers, more Ma¯ori journalists.
“We need more of our stories out there.
“The problem is that we live in a Pakeha world.
“Everything is Pakeha, from what we see to what we hear to what we speak.
“We need more Ma¯ori to be able to tell our stories but we need to be able to create an environment where it’s a place for our Ma¯ori to feel safe, to be able to write and share our stories.”
Kino is writing another book this year and says it is her dream to become an author not just in Aotearoa, but worldwide.