Wellington poet Tayi Tibble was 23 years old when she won the Ockham for best first book of poetry for Poūkahangatus. Of Te Whanau ā Apanui and Ngāti Porou descent, Tayi’s poems speak to beauty, activism, power and popular culture with a compelling guile, darkness and deep sensuality. She completed the title poem of her collection while she was undertaking her Masters in Creative Writing at Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters. Earlier this year she won the award for best personal essay at the Voyager Media Awards for her astonishing Newsroom essay about her experience at Ihumatao. “I look on writing as a skill that I practise, and I’m dedicated to improving it,” she says.
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Previous BookBubble interviews have been conducted with Damien Wilkins, Kyle Mewburn, Nalini Singh, Christine Leunens, Elizabeth Knox and Brandy Scott.
