Dazzling New Voices Pukapuka Talks session at the 2023 Nelson Arts Festival

Emma Ling Sidnam, Airana Ngarewa and Colleen Maria Lenihan discuss their stunning debut books, and reveal what gave them the courage to write, with Paula Morris.

Join acclaimed author and creative writing teacher Paula Morris in a discussion with the three debut authors she hand-picked as new authors she predicts will change the literary landscape in Aotearoa forever. They are writers you can’t afford not to read.

Emma Ling Sidnam’s debut novel, Backwaters, is a tender, nuanced novel about the bittersweet search for belonging. Airana Ngarewa’s debut novel The Bone Tree is a stunning coming of age story about two brothers who must learn to survive on their own in the world. With gritty lyricism, The Bone Tree gives voice to characters on the margins of society – and it considers the question of how we can best protect the ones we love. Kōhine, the short story collection by Colleen Maria Lenihan (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), juxtaposes Tokyo’s salarymen, sex workers and schoolgirls with rongoā healers, lone men and rural matriarchs of Aotearoa New Zealand.