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Tusiata Avia

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Tusiata Avia

MNZM
Avia in 2020
Avia in 2020
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Christchurch, New Zealand
OccupationPoet, performance artist, children's author
EducationUniversity of Canterbury, International Institute of Modern Letters
Notable awardsEmerging Pacific Artist, Arts Pasifka Awards (2006)

Donna Tusiata Avia MNZM (born 1966) is a New Zealand poet and children's author. She has been recognised for her work through receiving a 2020 Queen's Birthday Honour and in 2021 her collection The Savage Coloniser won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The Savage Coloniser and her previous work Wild Dogs Under My Skirt have been turned into live stage plays presented in a number of locations.

Background

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Avia was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand.[1] Her father is Samoan and her mother is New Zealand European.[2] Avia graduated from the University of Canterbury and in 2002 received an MA in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters.[1][3] Avia currently resides in the Christchurch suburb of Aranui.[4]

Career

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Avia's poetry explores Pasifika and cross-cultural themes, as well as the borders between traditional and contemporary life, and between place and the self.

Avia has toured both nationally and internationally performing her solo show Wild Dogs Under My Skirt which premiered at the 2002 Dunedin Fringe Festival.[5] She is a creative writing lecturer at the Manukau Institute of Technology.[6]

Wild Dogs Under My Skirt was presented by Auckland Arts Festival and Silo Theatre for Auckland Arts Festival in 2019 with an ensemble cast rather than as a solo.[7] It went on to tour New Zealand receiving critical acclaim including winning Best Director, Best Production and Best Lighting Design at the Wellington Theatre Awards.[8][9] A presentation at the Soho Playhouse in New York, USA followed in 2020 with the following credits: Directed by Anapela Polata'ivao, Cast – Joanna Mika-Toloa, Petmal Petelo, Ilasiaane Green, Stacey Leilua, Vaimaila Carolyn Baker, Anapela Polata'ivao, Musician – Leki Jackson Bourke, Choreography and Stage Manager: Mario Faumui, Set Design: Jane Hakaraia with artwork motifs by Tyler Vaeau.[10][11] Cast member Stacey Leilua said in an interview,

"I love the fact that we are bringing Tusiata's very unique voice to the New York stage. Being able to connect with our ensemble, and with new audiences in a feminist sense is incredibly empowering. I love hearing from women after the show who are so moved by the work, and really understand the deep value of it."[12]

Selected poetry by Avia was included in UPU, a compilation of Pacific Island writers’ work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020.[13] UPU was remounted as part of the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington in June 2021.[14]

Poetry by Avia has appeared in numerous literary journals such as Takahe, Sport, Turbine, and Trout.[3][2] She has been published in the Best New Zealand Poems series, including the 2004,[15] 2009,[16] 2011,[17] and 2017.[18]

In March 2023, Avia attracted media attention about her confronting poem The Savage Coloniser about British explorer Captain James Cook and his association with the legacy of British colonialism in New Zealand. The poetry was in the media in the leadup to the premiere of the theatre performance The Savage Coloniser programmed in the Auckland Arts Festival in February 2023. Avia was criticised for allegedly promoting reverse racism and violence by right-wing YouTuber Lee Williams, The Platform host Sean Plunket, ACT Party leader David Seymour, New Zealand First party leader Winston Peters, and Kiwiblog founder David Farrar. Plunket and Seymour also criticised Creative New Zealand for using taxpayer funding to sponsor Avia's book and stage show.[19][20] The attention meant that 2023 Avia became a target for harassment and death threats.[21] Avia defended her poem and accused the ACT Party of misrepresenting her work. Avia was also supported by The Spinoff book editor Claire Mabey, NZ Poet Laureates Selina Tusitala Marsh and Chris Tse, University of Waikato indigenous studies Associate Professor Waikaremoana Waitoki, and Creative New Zealand, who defended the poem on artistic, free speech, and historical grounds. Human Rights Commissioner Meng Foon confirmed that the watchdog had received complaints about the poem.[19][20] Further performances of The Savage Coloniser were held in Auckland between 9 and 12 March and at the Wānaka Festival of Colour in Wānaka on 28 March 2023.[22][23]

Honours, awards and residencies

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In 2005, Avia was awarded the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency at the University of Hawai‘i[24][3] and was the artist-in-residence at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury.[25] In 2006 she won the Emerging Pacific Artist award at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards.[26] and was shortlisted for the Prize in Modern Letters in 2006.[27]

Avia was the 2010 Ursula Bethell writer in residence at the University of Canterbury.[28] In 2013, she received the Janet Frame Literary Trust Award.[29] In 2017, her poetry collection, Fale Aitu – Spirit House, was shortlisted for the Poetry Award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. It was described by the judges as an "urgent, politicised collection, which finds eloquent ways to dramatise and speak out against horrors, injustices and abuses, both domestic and public".[30]

In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Avia was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to poetry and the arts.[31] She was also made an Arts Foundation Laureate, receiving a NZ$25,000 award and recognition as one of New Zealand's most outstanding artists.[32] The Arts Foundation described her poetry as "revolutionary" and said it "redefines the face of Pacific and New Zealand literature".[32]

In 2021, The Savage Coloniser Book won the Poetry Award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[33] She was the first Pasifika woman to win this award, and the collection was described by the judges as "a book bursting with alofa, profound pantoums, profanity and FafSwaggering stances, garrulously funny, bleakly satirical, magnificent".[34]

Published works

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  • Big Fat Brown Bitch (Victoria University Press, 2023), poetry[35]
  • The Savage Coloniser Book (Victoria University Press, 2020), poetry
  • Fale Aitu – Spirit House (Victoria University Press, 2016), poetry
  • Bloodclot (Victoria University Press, 2009), poetry
  • Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (Victoria University Press, 2004), poetry
  • Mele and the Fofo (Victoria University Press, 2004), children's book
  • The Song (Victoria University Press, 2002), children's book

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tusiata Avia". nzpoetsonline.homestead.com. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Tusiata Avia". Pasifika Poetry – NZEPC. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Tusiata Avia". New Zealand Book Council. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Aranui poet becomes the voice of NZ Pasifika". Star News. 18 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  5. ^ Christian, Dionne (6 March 2018). "Behind the scenes: Poet Tusiata Avia on Wild Dogs run". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Creative Writing – Manukau Institute of Technology". www.manukau.ac.nz. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  7. ^ Faatau’uu-Satiu, Gabriel (7 March 2019). "REVIEW: Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (Auckland Arts Festival) – Theatre Scenes: Auckland Theatre Blog (Reviews and commentary)". Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Wild Dogs Under My Skirt | Christchurch Arts Festival". Christchurch Arts Festival 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  9. ^ Prior, Kate. "Ten Moments in Aotearoa Theatre 2019". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  10. ^ Mandell, Jonathan (8 January 2020). "Wild Dogs Under My Skirt Review: When the Rainbow is Enuf in New Zealand". New York Theater. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (Closed January 18, 2020)". TheaterMania. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  12. ^ Sagapolutele, Raymond (12 August 2019). "Wild Dogs Under My Skirt: the production offering a taste of 'Niu Sila' in New York". Villainesse. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  13. ^ "UPU". Auckland Arts Festival Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Makaurau. March 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Kia Mau Festival 2021". Kia Mau Festival. June 2021.
  15. ^ "Best New Zealand Poems 2004". www.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  16. ^ "Contents of Best New Zealand Poems 2009". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  17. ^ "Contents of Best New Zealand Poems 2011". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  18. ^ "Best New Zealand Poems 2016 offers a transporting read". International Institute of Modern Letters | Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  19. ^ a b Matthews, Philip (11 March 2023). "Poetic anger or racism in reverse? The controversy over a Captain Cook poem". Stuff. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  20. ^ a b "Poet Tusiata Avia lashes ACT after party calls her book The Savage Colonised 'racist' and 'hate-fuelled'". Newshub. 2 March 2023. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  21. ^ "Tusiata Avia's Big Fat Brown Bitch: 'I was bloody rarked up'". RNZ. 9 December 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Tusiata Avia on her show 'The Savage Coloniser'". Radio New Zealand. 8 March 2023. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  23. ^ "The Festival of Colour". Wānaka Festival of Colour. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  24. ^ "Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency". www.fulbright.org.nz. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  25. ^ "Artists in Residence | Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies". The University of Canterbury. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  26. ^ "Arts Pasifika Awards". Creative New Zealand. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  27. ^ "Glenn Schaeffer Prize in Modern Letters". christchurchcitylibraries.com. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  28. ^ "Ursula Bethell Residency". The University of Canterbury. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  29. ^ "Awards". Janet Frame Literary Trust. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  30. ^ "2017 Awards Shortlist". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  31. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2020". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  32. ^ a b "Meet our 2020 Arts Foundation Laureates". Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  33. ^ "Beautrais wins 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Award for fiction". Books+Publishing. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  34. ^ Brookes, Emily (12 May 2021). "First time nominee Airini Beautrais wins $57k Acorn Prize for Fiction at 2021 Ockham NZ Book Awards". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  35. ^ "Big Fat Brown Bitch". Te Herenga Waka University Press. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
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