Local Focus: The power of words - Shilo Kino

Māori journalist and author Shilo Kino spoke candidly about her experiences as a writer at the first Māori Writers Festival in Rotorua this month.

Her article A Writer's Festival Beyond the White and Privileged, for Newsroom, was published in May last year and was a catalyst for the event.

"When I went to my first writers festival - just as someone who loves reading and writing as a Māori - I felt so uncomfortable," Kino said.

"I felt uncomfortable because it was such a Pākehā space.

"The writers were speaking in mostly Pākehā and they didn't speak to me.

"The people that were going to these events were all Pākehā, so it didn't feel like a safe space for me."

A few years after attending the event Kino said she was invited back, this time as an author.

"When I presented my book to the kids the majority were Pākehā.

"It made me feel really rangirua, in two minds about that because I wrote my book for Māori. But if Māori aren't reading my book or reading my words in my stories then what is the point? So I went home and I wrote an article about why we need a Māori writers festival.

"It's nothing new that I really shared.

"I think Māori have had this whakaaro for years but someone saw it in Rotorua. They decided to put on the Kupu Festival which is happening a year later from when the article was written."

The Kupu Māori Writers Festival brought many Māori creatives and writers together for the first time.

"I feel really honoured to be a part of that process, but I do want to say that it's not just me that, you know, did this," Kino said.

"I just wrote words and that led to change - but it shows the power of words," Kino said.

Her book Pōrangi Boy won the prestigious Young Adult Fiction Award at the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2021.

The story is about a boy called Niko who is labelled crazy because of his beliefs about a taniwha in a nearby thermal spring.

He goes on to protect and fight for the land, something Kino said is common for Māori to do.

"He kind of finds his rightful place as kaitiaki as tangata whenua and he goes on to protect the land.

"Not many of our Māori kids really know who they are as kaitiaki as tangata whenua and the power in that. His journey is about finding that and finding who he is.

"Once he does, he becomes this confident young man who ends up leading his community."

The festival celebrated a diverse range of Māori authors, but it also highlighted the importance of Māori taking ownership of their stories.

"Māori have always been storytellers since the beginning of time.

"Our tūpuna were storytellers and so we need more Māori authors, we need more Māori writers, we need more Māori journalists.

"We need more of our stories out there.

"The problem is that we live in a Pākehā world.

"Everything is Pākehā, from what we see to what we hear to what we speak.

"We need more Māori to be able to tell our stories but we need to be able to create an environment where it's a place for our Māori to feel safe, to be able to write and share our stories."

Kino is writing another book this year and says it is her dream to become an author not just in Aotearoa, but worldwide.