Fri 26 Aug 2016 In: Entertainment View at Wayback View at NDHA
Today we celebrate national poetry day by taking a look at handful of queer poets across the country. Joni Nelson Co-founder and Director of Communications at Breaking Boundaries, Joni is a Film and English student at the University of Auckland who’s passionate about writing, particularly poetry and theatre. Joni believes in making art with a social conscience and that these mediums have the power to create social change. Check out one of Joni's poems filmed for Breaking Boundaries below. Tulia Thompson Tulia describes herself as a New Zealand-born Fijian/ Tongan/ Pakeha queer feminist writer, living in Aotearoa. A spoken word performer and poet, Tulia is currently writing a novel and her children’s novel Josefa and the Vu, was published in 2007. With a PHD in Sociology, Tulia’s doctoral thesis, entitled “Queer Lives in Fiji” was about the marginalisation of sexual minorities in Fiji. Check out some of Tulia's poetry here. Harold Coutts Describing themselves as a “cd collector, writer, full time gay nerd”, Harold writes poetry about boys and gender their struggle with mental illness. Harold is currently working on publishing a first poetry collection called Fissues in Flowers and studies Classics and English at Victoria University. Check out one of Harold's poems here. Hinemoana Baker IMage credit: Robert Cross Hinemoana is a published poet, a musician and recording artist, teacher of creative writing and occasional broadcaster. She is currently over in Germany as Creative New Zealand's Berlin Writer in Residence. Her first book of poetry, 'mātuhi | needle’, was published in 2004, followed by her second collection 'kōiwi kōiwi | bone bone' in 2010. Check out some of Hinemoana's poetry here. - 26th August 2016