In Conversation with Tina Makereti Tina Makereti and David Stirrup
Event details
How does ‘place’ shape Indigenous literatures? From Aotearoa (New Zealand) to London, and from the early 19th century to the near future, Tina Makereti’s novels explore Māori histories of displacement and mobility, British colonialism, climate change and climate refugeeism.
Join Tina in conversation with David Stirrup of the University of York and enjoy readings from the Māori author’s three novels, including The Mires, which was a finalist of the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
Portrait Image credit: Ebony Lang Photographer
About the speakers
Dr Tina Makereti is a New Zealander of Te Atiawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Rangatahi-Matakore and Pakeha descent. Her novels include The Mires, The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke and Where the Rekohu Bone Sings. In 2016 her short story ‘Black Milk’ won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Pacific region. She also co-edited Black Marks on the White Page, an anthology that celebrates Māori and Pasifika writing, with Witi Ihimaera. Her novels, essays and short stories have won recognition in Aotearoa (New Zealand), and she has been the recipient of several writers’ residencies and awards. Tina teaches creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
David Stirrup is a Professor in the University of York’s Department of English and Related Literature, UK and a co-Director of the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies. Alongside research activity, the Centre collaborates with non-University groups, including the Indigenous Rights-focused NGO, Incomindios UK, and the Greenham Common-Shoshone Nuclear Colonialism project. David is also a founding co-editor of the online, open access journal Transmotion, which publishes scholarship on contemporary, innovative Indigenous writing from around the world.
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