PĀPĀ VS THE PATRIARCHY

Tīhema Baker + Lawrence Patchett

Tīhema Baker and Lawrence Patchett discuss their latest books, One Day a Taniwha and Have This Heart, and reflect on aspects of fatherhood and masculinity that aren’t often talked about, let alone explored in literature. This deep dive into stories about men who strive for more will be chaired by Matty Anderson.

One Day a Taniwha is a powerful new novel from Tīhema Baker, the bestselling author of Turncoat. As the pressure of fatherhood tightens its grip on Hepa, sleepless nights and rising tensions begin to erode his sense of control. When the line between fear and reality begins to blur, can he be trusted with his own son?

As well as being a writer, Tīhema Baker has worked on mental health policy for Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori Health Authority – disestablished by the coalition government). He led a project investigating kaupapa Māori approaches to mental health care, which involved visiting acute mental health inpatient and forensic facilities around the motu.

Acclaimed author Lawrence Patchett’s Have This Heart is a compulsively readable story collection about men who are trying to do better, featuring stories are about men at work and what happens when your life doesn’t let you hide.

Whether training a rescue dog, starting a bucket chain to put out a raging fire, raising a marquee beside a line of Ferraris, or reporting on a sensitive workplace accident, the men in Have This Heart are striving for more. For connection, for humour, for a way back into the world. It’s a collection of stories that are tightly coiled stories, rich with rough talk and fear-sweat and tenderness.

Tīhema Baker is one of eight emerging writers recognised in 2026 New Voices of Aotearoa. Thank you to New Voices of Aotearoa for contributing towards his appearance at the 2026 Nelson Arts Festival. Find out more about New Voices of Aotearoa here.

Tīhema Baker

Tīhema Baker (Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Atiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngati Toa Rangatira) is a writer from Otaki. His writing often explores the complex interactions between and within te ao Maori and te ao Pakeha, based on personal and professional experience. He is the author of satirical novel Turncoat, which was longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2024, a young adult novel series, and various short stories and essays. This year, Tīhema is one of the eight New Voices of Aotearoa, a Coalition of Books initiative that shinies a spotlight on exceptional and distinctive writing talent across fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

Lawrence Patchett

Lawrence Patchett is a Pākehā writer from Ōtautahi Christchurch. His previous books include I Got His Blood on Me: Frontier Tales, which won the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction. His writing has appeared in Landfall, Overland, New Zealand Geographic, and in newspapers, and he received the Ursula Bethell Residency and the Todd New Writer’s Bursary. He works as an editor and part-time in the restoration of native forests and wetlands.

Matty Anderson

Matty Anderson has embraced many roles in his life: builder, scaffolder, electrician, naval rating, bouncer, veteran, father, ex-husband, engineer, partner, teacher, support worker, advocate and Nelson City Councillor. Very grateful, very surprised and God-willing, he will be 1754 days sober when he facilitates this Pukapuka Talks’ session.