Selina Tusitala Marsh is a guest at the Literary Festival.
Vibrant, political, inclusive and sassy, Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh, Commonwealth Poet 2016, will undoubtedly wow the audience with her presentation/performance at the Whanganui Literary Festival's main event, October 6 to 8.
"She peppers her poetic narrative with the rhythms and staccato of urban hip-hop beats, in tune with slick contemporary
themes and voices, showing her and their disregard for the romanticisation of the past and for the politics of the present," wrote Cathie Koa Dunsford in the Australian Women's Book Review.
And Nicky Pellegrino writes in the NZ Herald, "For Marsh, poetry is an inclusive rather than an elitist art form. She's particularly enthusiastic about going into schools to perform and encourage students to find their own poetic voices."
Dr Marsh is a poet and scholar of Samoan, Tuvaluan, Scottish and French ancestry. She was the first person of Pacific descent to graduate with a PhD in English from the University of Auckland, and her 2004 doctoral thesis, entitled Ancient banyans, flying foxes and white ginger: Five Pacific women writers, focuses on the first Pacific female poets to publish in English. She now lectures at the University of Auckland, specialising in Maori and Pacific literary studies.
Auckland University Press published her first collection of poetry, Fast Talking PI, in 2009. The book won the 2010 NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry, and it made the top five Bestsellers List shortly after publication. Fast Talking PI was also named Best First Book at the 2010 New Zealand Book Awards. Albert Wendt wrote in praise of the book, "A new generation of poets has emerged in Aotearoa and the Pacific. Most of that generation are women, and Selina Tusitala Marsh, in this, her first collection, shows she is one of the most gifted and influential members of that generation."
She has performed her poetry at a range of venues and festivals, and her work has been translated into Ukrainian and Spanish. Her second book of poems, Dark Sparring has been quoted as "an appealing voice, a strong right hook and an affecting, rhythmic heart".
