May 2025
$25
40 pages, softbound with flaps
210 x 140mm
ISBN: 978-1-98-850344-8
Pakiaka, the lean, essential debut volume by Gabrielle Huria, is a timely reminder of how good poetry can be at storytelling. The stories Huria tells are local and cosmic, firmly rooted in Ngāi Tahu whakapapa and Te Waipounamu history but always attuned to the wide, interconnected world. These are accounts of stolen land and agricultural negligence, but also of tradition, connection, kaitiakitanga, birds, eels, rivers and winds. Of sharing kai and responsibilities. These are poems that scoff at our complacencies and ask a vital question: ‘Is this what Māori women do? Carry the world on their backs?’
‘I can feel the electricity in this beautiful book. There are tears here and laughter. There’s truth-telling and rage. There’s love.’ —Bernadette Hall
‘Pakiaka is a heartfelt thing of beauty; a moving and evocative celebration of the natural world written with great delicacy. A gorgeous debut.’ —Victor Rodger
Gabrielle Huria is Ngāi Tūāhuriri / Ngāi Tahu. She lives with her extended whānau at Tuahiwi in North Canterbury. Gabrielle is a keen practitioner of Ngāi Tahu mahinga kai (traditional food gathering). This collection of poems is part family chronicle and part a settling of accounts – a depiction of being Ngāi Tahu in a modern world.
