AFTER DARK II: DUSK CHORUS

Name: AFTER DARK II: DUSK CHORUS
Start: 2023-10-23T19:30:00+12:00
End: 2023-10-23T21:40:00+12:00
Location: BROOK WAIMĀRAMA SANCTUARY

Arihia Latham & Ruby Solly

Ngā Toi Māori Writers + Kōrero

Join us in the Beech Glade outdoor classroom on dusk, where Arihia Latham will read from her debut poetry collection, Birdspeak, alongside her cousin Ruby Solly, who will perform verse from her second book, The Artist.

For the second year running, the Nelson Arts Festival is delighted to partner with the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary to offer After Dark II: Dusk Chorus. This year, we will enter the sanctuary around sunset and walk together to the Beech Glade outdoor classroom to enjoy the performances during civil and nautical twilight. We will then be guided out of the park while astronomical twilight dissolves into the night sky.

Arihia Latham’s debut poetry collection Birdspeak (Anahera Press, July 2023) follows the arc of the dawn chorus through to dusk as it maps a similar trajectory in my own life and observations of beginnings and endings.

In Ruby Solly’s stunning new verse novel, The Artist (THWUP, May 2023), cave art leaps from walls, pounamu birds sing, legends become reality, and history becomes the present.

In their whānau, birds are a strong tohu for both writers, and the names of manu live within their whakapapa.

In this article, they kōrero with each other about their new books.

All pukapuka will be for sale through our Festival bookstore Paper Plus Nelson, both at their shop and at their stall at Pukapuka Talks sessions – your opportunity to meet authors and get your books signed! You can also purchase books from Paper Plus online.

Arihia Latham (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha)

Arihia Latham (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) is a writer, rongoā practitioner and cultural advisor based in Te Whanganui a Tara. Her work has been widely published and anthologised and she presents often at arts and writing festivals. Her poetry collection Birdspeak is out in July 2023.

Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe)

Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) is a writer, musician and taonga pūoro practitioner living in Pōneke. Her first book, Tōku Pāpā, was published in 2021 and longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. She has had poetry published in Aotearoa, Australia, America and Antarctica. In 2020 she released her debut album, Pōneke, and in 2021, Bird Like Men, as part of the group Tararua. She is currently completing a PhD in public health, focusing on the use of taonga pūoro in hauora Māori.