Surprise prize
A big week for Bug Week writer
Acclaimed Samoan-New Zealand poet Tusiata Avia suppressed her early writing talent because she believed the craft was not for brown girls.
But on Wednesday, she became the first Pasifikawoman to win the 2021 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry with The Savage Coloniser Book, described by Ockham New Zealand Book Awards judges as ‘‘an enthralling performance’’ that ‘‘expresses the outrage shared by many, while maintaining faith that love helps the healing process’’.
Avia, 55, wants to inspire other Samoan females.
As a 10-year-old growing up in Christchurch, she discovered her penchant for prose through a teacher who devoted half the class time to poetry writing. But by 15, Avia felt compelled to put the craft aside.
‘‘It was 1981 in Christchurch under a Muldoon government, and it was not a friendly time to be Samoan or brown of any shade. I just got the message from everywhere that brown girls like me didn’t go on to become writers, so I shut it down.’’
It wasn’t until Avia was in her early 30s, when she returned to New Zealand after living overseas, that she was introduced to Pasifika artists by her cousin, playwright Victor Rodger: ‘‘That made me realise, ‘OK, I can do this.’ I came back from London with the express purpose of becoming a writer and off I went. I haven’t really considered doing anything else.’’
Today she is renowned as a poet, performer and children’s book writer and won the Janet Frame Literary Trust Award in 2013 and in 2020 was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to poetry and the arts.
Surviving as a writer in New Zealand has proved trying for the solo mother to a 13-year-old daughter.
‘‘Financially, it’s a ridiculous career to have,’’ Avia said. ‘‘But I think it’s the purpose of my life.’’
The former high school teacher sees writing as her way of dealing with things.
‘‘I write what I have to. Confessional poetry has a bad rap. To those people, I don’t agree at all.’’
Avia lives with her daughter and 87-year-old mum in Aranui, close to the Linwood Islamic Centre hit by the Christchurch terror attack.
The poet, who suffers from epilepsy, was stranded in Tamaki Makaurau during the March 15 terror assaults.
‘‘I was at the Auckland Writer’s Festival, had a seizure, fell and smashed my head and was in the hospital when it happened. That was pretty freaky not just to know what had happened to the city but to have my mum and daughter there and not be able to do anything.’’
Her daughter’s school went into lockdown for several hours, leaving Avia’s mum waiting anxiously with other caregivers.
Medics advised Avia her brain would explode if she boarded a plane, and she was barred from flying for two weeks.
She wrote the compelling poem Massacre while languishing in hospital.
Avia has revealed she is writing a novel, and plans to turn her awardwinning poetry into the Savage Coloniser show.
‘‘It’s kind of baby steps at the moment but the same cast that do Wild Dogs Under My Skirt and my producer, Victor Roger, feel like it’s got legs and are quite keen to give it a go.’’