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What I’m reading Hana Pera Aoake

Since having a baby and publishing my first book, understanding and learning about the whakapapa of contemporary Maaori writing has become really important to me and it’s what I mostly read.

At the moment I have a few books on the go. Since becoming a new mother it’s been really difficult to find the time and space to read. Often I’ll only read my daughter her favourite pukapuka, Kei hea a Spot?. To counter this I have been popping collections of writing around my house in places where I can pick up and read, say a couple of poems, an essay or a short story.

I have been doing this even with books I have already read.

I’m reading Alice Te Punga Somerville’s Two Hundred and Fifty ways to Start an Essay about Captain Cook. It is really clever. It’s almost like a numbered manifesto or a really long poem. I also have Keri Hulme’s Stonefish by my bedside table. Since she passed away last year I’ve been trying to re-read a lot of her work. This book so far has been beautiful short stories that make me want to visit the West Coast.

The other book I have beside my bed is For Someone I Love – a Collection of Writing by Arapera Kaa Blank. This book includes some of Blank’s poetry, essays and fiction. It’s so warm, joyful and the photographs throughout by her husband Pius are absolutely beautiful. This book is so special and speaks to so many things that are still pertinent to now, like identity and belonging.

Focus Book Reviews

en-nz

2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282011855971987

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