Entangled Islands

Description

In this new collection of poetry and short stories, beloved Pacific writer Serie Barford reflects on the entangled history of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Here peoples and cultures meet and intertwine in a medley of memories, imagination and genealogy. In New Zealand, a cherished aunt dies, an old woman recites ghost stories from her girlhood in a Samoan village, children play skipping games and the author battles racism, while through the author's travels to New Caledonia we are drawn into the elegant life and times of Lady Day and witness a tsunami near-miss. Entangled Islands invites the reader to enter a lyrical, vividly drawn world.

Author description

Serie Barford was born in Aotearoa to a German-Samoan mother and a Palagi father and grew up in West Auckland. She has published three previous collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Tapa Talk (Huia, 2007), and her work has frequently appeared in journals and anthologies, including Essential New Zealand Poems, Mauri Ola, Landfall, Poetry New Zealand, Blackmail Press, Writing the Pacific, Best New Zealand Poems and many more. Serie is a sought-after performance poet and has performed at many public events, including the annual Stars of Pasifika Poetry event. Serie was awarded the Seresin Landfall Residency in 2011.