Saturday 10 February 
9.30am – 10.30am Pasifika Superstars of Tomorrow

Three stars have emerged in the limelight of literary Aotearoa recently – and they’re all Pasifika and all ours. Gina Cole’s Black Ice Matter won the Best First Book Award at the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards and her performance at the opening of the Auckland Writers Festival was a sensation. Poet and storyteller Courtney Sina Meredith is so sought after by overseas festivals we’re lucky to have her at samesame, while Tulia Thompson’s Josefa and the Vu is a quiet sensation all of its own. Hear these stars of the word read and talk about the path that led them to realise themselves through writing and how they use their Pasifika and queer voices to explore a bold new journey.

Chaired by leading kaupapa Maori educator, researcher and writer Leonie Pihama