Only three percent of poetry and fiction published in New Zealand is by Maori writers, making this new collection, Rawahi by Ngapuhi poet Briar Wood, an important arrival.
Anton Blank, editor of Ora Nui, New Zealand's only Maori literary journal, says: "I've published Briar's work in two editions of Ora Nui. Her writing is carefully nuanced, alive with a sense of place, and grounded in Maoritanga. It is poetry that is rewarding and deserves a wide audience."
Well-known Pasifika writer Serie Barford also has praise for Wood: "In her new collection, Briar Wood's evocative poems transport us between archipelagos and continents. Her poetry teems with colour and light."
In Rawahi (meaning 'overseas'), Briar Wood weaves lyrical seascapes revealing people and places inspired by her home in Aotearoa New Zealand, her travels and time living overseas in Europe.
As bach doors open on moana and moorland, the deep-sea currents bring languages of faraway and words from the foreshore. Poems in the collection Rawahi travel on emotional and linguistic voyages to make aroha from the movements between people and places.