Award-winning poet Tusiata Avia joins acclaimed playwright Victor Rodger to discuss Giving Birth to My Father, her most personal book yet.

In this collection exploring grief and renewal, Tusiata tells both the imagined story of her father's last days and what really happened.

The event will feature powerful readings by Tusiata, an acclaimed performer. Prepare for tears, laughs, and goosebumps.

Presented as part of HamLit26, Hamilton Arts Festival Toi Ora ki Kirikiriroa, with thanks to Hamilton City Council, Creative Communities Scheme and Poppies Book Store.

Seating provided.

Tusiata Avia MNZM

Tusiata Avia MNZM is the author of many acclaimed poetry collections including Wild Dogs Under My Skirt which was also staged as a theatre show, the Ockham-award-winning The Savage Coloniser Book, Big Fat Brown Bitch, and her latest Giving Birth to my Father. She has held the Fulbright Pacific Writer’s Fellowship at the University of Hawai‘i, the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at University of Canterbury and received the Janet Frame Literary Trust Award. She has been appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to poetry and the arts, received a Distinguished Alumni Award at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in 2023, a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in 2024.

Victor Rodger ONZM

Victor Rodger ONZM is an award-winning writer and producer of Samoan and Scottish descent. An Arts Foundation Laureate and former Fulbright Scholar Victor’s plays include internationally acclaimed Black Faggot and My Name is Gary Cooper. He’s produced several plays including Tusiata Avia’s Wild Dogs Under My Skirt and The Savage Coloniser Show. In 2021 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to theatre and Pacific arts.