Huia Short Stories 14: Contemporary Māori Fiction

by Emma Espiner (Editor), Carol Hirschfeld (Editor), Vincent Olsen-Reeder (Editor)

Here are the best short stories from the Pikihuia Awards for Māori writers 2021 as judged by Emma Espiner, Carol Hirschfeld, Vincent Olsen-Reeder and Maiki Sherman. This competition, run by the Māori Literature Trust and Huia Publishers, is held every two years to promote Māori writers and their work. This year, the awards sought short fiction from first-time and emerging writers in te reo Māori and English.The competition attracts entries each year from writers of all ages and those who are starting out to seasoned authors. This collection of finalists’ fiction celebrates Māori writing, introduces new talent and gives an opportunity for Māori writers to shine.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 30, 2021

About the author

Emma Espiner (née Wehipeihana) is a New Zealand broadcaster and political commentator. In 2020, she won Opinion Writer of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.

She is a columnist for Newsroom and hosts a podcast Getting Better for Radio New Zealand about Māori health equity.

Abridged from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Maria Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first time I've read a collection of Maori short story. I was looking forward to getting a glimpse at Maori culture. I'm from Argentina, so far, far away from New Zeland.
Several stories were written entirely in Maori language, with no translation for those of us who don't know it. I also had trouble understanding those stories written in English. Even if I understood the words, I couldn't make sense of the plots.
Maybe this collection is not for foreigners. I'm not rating the quality of the works. The award behind the stories aims at ‘Taking New Zealand literature with a strong Māori voice to the world’. I think this has not been achieved.