Feana Tu‘akoi has more than 220 published titles, including stories, poems, picture books, school readers, plays, articles, activities, chapter books and radio stories.
Massey University’s School of Humanities, Media Studies, and Creative Communication, in collaboration with Palmerston North City Council and Square Edge Community Arts, is excited to announce Feana Tu‘akoi as the first 2022 Visiting Artist.
Ms Tu‘akoi will dedicate her time in Manawatū to writing nonfiction essays grounded in her life-experience as part of a bicultural family. She will also be offering workshops to Pacific children with the aim of producing a zine of their work.
Ms Tu‘akoi's workshop project with Pacific children builds on a long career of successful publications in the field of children’s writing and arises out her original impulse to become a writer.
“I first began writing because I wanted our four children to read about people and experiences that made sense to them. Much of my writing since has included Tongan characters and bicultural families, like our own. My hope is that Pacific tamariki who read my work will recognise the value in their own stories and feel empowered to become our writers of the future.”
Visiting Artist Selection Committee member and Artistic Director of Square Edge Community Arts, Dr Karen Secombe aligns Ms Tu‘akoi’s aspirations with Square Edge’s central mission: “Working from a community centred Tuākana-tēina approach to create a zine publication with a group of Pasifika children, and Feana’s deep sense that everyone brings value to the table, connects in strongly with the values of Square Edge.”
Visiting Artist Selection Committee Member Associate Professor Darryn Joseph expressed a similar excitement about hosting Ms Tu‘akoi, author of more 200 titles for children.
“Feana stood out as a writer who would benefit from this residency in this particular moment of her writing career but more importantly would be a tremendous presence in the community. Her referee, a previous recipient of the residency, spoke of Feana, as ‘Wonderfully enthusiastic, an excellent contributor to the community, has worked a lot in schools, interested, open and responsive and very energetic.’”
The timing of this residency is ideal for Ms Tu‘akoi as well as for Palmerston North. Building on her third-place win in the 2021 Headland Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne Essay Prize and her shortlisting for the 2022 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award, she’s emerging as a powerful voice on the literary scene.
The return of an artist-in-residence may also be a welcome indication that local arts are reawakening. Expressing how thrilled the committee was to be able to support this residency project, Visiting Artist Selection Committee Chair Dr Thom Conroy says, “Her proposed workshops promise to enrich our local communities in ways that are sometimes overlooked. We also look forward to Tu‘akoi relaunching the celebrated visiting writer series, Off the Page, following its long COVID-related hiatus.”
Gillian Tasker, the Palmerston North City Council Arts Advisor, seconded the importance of the visiting artist programme to our local arts culture: “Having a visiting artist in Palmerston North helps enrich our local arts community and the wider community, while building our reputation as a city that’s serious about art and culture.”
The visiting artist residency is proudly coordinated by the School of Humanities, Media, and Creative Communication at Massey University. The School of Humanities, Media, and Creative Communication asks fundamental questions about the arts, society and culture; it examines our individual and collective achievements, fascinations and follies in both the past and present. The study of literature and languages, communication, media, theatre, arts and culture is a vital to prepare our students to participate in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
Feana Tu‘akoi
Feana Tu‘akoi is a Kirikiriroa-based writer, with a strong background in educational writing. She has more than 220 published titles to her name, including stories, poems, picture books, school readers, plays, articles, activities, chapter books and radio stories. Seven of her nine trade books for children have been named in various awards and her work has been translated into several languages.
Ms Tu‘akoi writes regularly for the NZ School Journals, the Ready to Read series, the New South Wales School Magazine and Wendy Pye’s Sunshine series and has done so for more than 20 years. Her short stories for both adults and children have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her poetry for adults has appeared in anthologies and literary magazines, including Turbine-Kapahau, Mayhem, Poetry New Zealand Yearbook and an upcoming issue of Antipodes.
Visiting Artist Residency
Massey University, Palmerston North City Council, and Square Edge Community Arts offer three annual residencies for established or emerging artists. Each residency provides the opportunity for a visiting artist to develop their own project and work with the Palmerston North arts community and Massey students.
The annual programme is organised into three residencies, each arranged around the academic year:
- Writer-in-Residence (approximately seven weeks duration during April-June)
- Multimedia/Filmmaker-in-residence (approximately seven weeks duration during August-October)
- Theatre-Director/ Practitioner-in-residence to direct Summer Shakespeare (approximately 16 weeks duration from mid-November to mid-March with a Christmas break).
While in residence, visiting artists have time to focus on their own artistic practice. They also facilitate ongoing community engagement with the arts in partnership with Square Edge Community Arts. Finally, they contribute to the arts practice of Massey University students in Theatre, Creative Writing, English, and Media Studies. Opportunities for mentorship and collaboration with community and Massey-based artists are also undertaken.