A Kind of Shelter Whakaruru-Taha: An Anthology of New Writing for a Changed World

Witi Ihimaera (Te Whanau-a-Kai, Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngati Porou, Tuhoe) has had careers in literature, diplomacy and academia. He was Aotearoa New Zealand's first Maori novelist, with his novel Tangi (1973), and works as editor, essayist, filmmaker, playwright and critic. His latest book is Navigating the Stars (2020). He served for 16 years as a New Zealand diplomat, in Canberra, New York and Washington, DC. He is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau. Michelle Elvy is a writer, editor and teacher of creative writing. Her books include the everrumble (2019) and the other side of better (2021), and she has co-edited, among others, the anthologies Ko Aotearoa Tatou We Are New Zealand (with Paula Morris and James Norcliffe, 2020) and Breach of All Size: Small Stories on Ulysses, Love and Venice (with Marco Sonzogni, 2022). Founder of Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction and National Flash Fiction Day, she is also managing editor of the annual Best Small Fictions anthology.

"Sixty-eight writers and eight artists gather at a hui in a magnificent cave-like dwelling or meeting house. In the middle is a table, the tepu korero, from which the rangatira speak; they converse with honoured guests, and their rangatira-korero embody the tahuhu, the over-arching horizontal ridge pole, of the shelter. In a series of rich conversations, those present discuss our world in the second decade of this century; they look at decolonisation, indigeneity, climate change . . . this is what they see. Edited by Witi Ihimaera and Michelle Elvy, this fresh, exciting anthology features poetry, short fiction and creative non-fiction, as well as korero or conversations between writers. The lineup from Aoteraoa includes Alison Wong, Paula Morris, Anne Salmond, Tina Makereti, Ben Brown, David Eggleton, Cilla McQueen, Hinemoana Baker, Erik Kennedy, Ian Wedde, Nina Mingya Powles, Gregory O'Brien, Vincent O'Sullivan, Patricia Grace, Selina Tusitala Marsh and Whiti Hereaka. Guest writers from overseas include Jose-Luis Novo and Ru Freeman."