Nadine Anne Hura

Contributing writer

Nadine Millar (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) has a background in journalism, education policy and kaupapa Māori research. Her essays explore themes of identity, biculturalism, politics and parenting.

The Sunday Essay
Mar 28, 2021

The Sunday Essay: Absent parents and the stories that shape us

In the first of our new Sunday Essay series, Nadine Anne Hura re-examines the colonial fiction of the nuclear family.

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Ātea
Mar 1, 2021

On the waka to carbon zero: Where have we come from, and where are we going?

For Māori, if our whenua drowns, we drown.

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Society
Jan 17, 2021
blanket squares to be stitched together

Amid the chaos, I created

This is what grief taught me: that creating is the only true antidote to death.

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Ātea
Jan 4, 2021

How to survive a shipwreck: A sea level rise story

There are many lessons climate scientists can learn from mātauranga Māori. Lesson one is: don't panic.

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Society
Dec 19, 2020

Life’s too short for burning bridges, and other meditations on regret

Nadine Anne Hura reflects on love, loss and regret on this first Christmas without her brother.

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Ātea
Oct 15, 2020

Listening to the silence: Those who don’t, can’t or won’t vote this election

Like hundreds of thousands of others, Nadine Anne Hura’s brother couldn’t see the point in participating in a system that didn’t make space for him, much less represent him.

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Ātea
Sep 6, 2020

One life: A song for my brother

He was different, like Māui. Equal parts curious, reckless, determined and brave, he couldn’t leave things alone. He needed to know.

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Society
Jul 26, 2020

Why did we get a dog? To fix the unfixable and fill the unfillable

Piiata the lab was supposed to paper over the cracks of Nadine Anne Hura's broken family with beads of glittering gold. Instead, she began to dismantle the house one panel …

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Ātea
Mar 25, 2020

Rest now, e Papatūānuku

A poem by Nadine Anne Hura

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Ātea
Dec 29, 2019

How to survive a shipwreck: A sea level rise story

There are many lessons climate scientists can learn from mātauranga Māori. Lesson one is: don't panic.

Read on.

Ātea
Nov 23, 2019

Who gets to be an ‘ordinary New Zealander’? On Citizens’ Assemblies, climate change and tangata whenua

At a recent Aotearoa Climate Emergency meeting in Wellington, the topic under discussion was a Citizens’ Assembly to work towards cross-party agreement on climate action. Nadine Hura went along to ask what a citizen looks like and who gets to decide.

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Ātea
Nov 1, 2019

How to centre indigenous people in climate conversations

We need to amplify indigenous voices around the climate emergency, but what does that mean in practice?

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Parents
Jan 1, 2019

Summer reissue: A mother gives up drinking

I’ve seen more sober sunrises now than I can count, and each one holds more meaning for me than any cocktail hour.

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Books
Jul 18, 2018

Calling all aspiring Māori writers: this one’s for you

Nadine Anne Hura is one of six writers who have been selected for Te Papa Tupu 2018, a writing programme for Māori voices. We asked her what it means for her as a Māori writer.

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Parents
Apr 4, 2018

‘I’m a better friend to myself than alcohol ever was’: A mother gives up drinking

Whether it's one glass while making dinner or a few at kids' birthday parties, it's often hard to separate motherhood from drinking. Mother of three Nadine Anne Hura writes about why she finally decided to quit for good.

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Parents
Mar 28, 2018

Reo 2 Go: The social group helping whānau learn te reo

Nadine Anne Hura shares the challenges of encouraging te reo Māori with teenagers and the joy of  total immersion environments for all of the whānau.

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Ātea
Mar 25, 2018

The ever shining star of Nuhaka

Essayist Nadine Anne Hura discovers a town alive with the voices of the past.

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Ātea
Mar 8, 2018

Kin and kūpapa: how a ‘friend of the Pākehā’ fought his own family

Essayist Nadine Anne Hura goes looking for one ancestor's story, and asks what really lies underneath our monuments to war.

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Ātea
Mar 5, 2018

Te reo speakers are not your free translation service

We should promote everyone having a go at learning te reo Māori – but please think twice before you ask a Māori person to do the heavy lifting for you, writes Nadine Anne Hura.

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Ātea
Nov 26, 2017

‘Pākehā place names come and go. Māori names endure.’

Nadine Millar writes a love letter to her beloved Porirua, and asks 'What's in a name?'

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Ātea
Jun 1, 2017

It shouldn’t be a debate: Our schools need to stop prioritising Pākehā values by default

A high school debate tournament highlighted the unconscious Euro-centric bias at the heart of the New Zealand education system, writes Nadine Millar.

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Society
Apr 23, 2017

How one approach to learning Māori conquers the shame factor

I only started studying te reo at Te Ataarangi this year, but I knew straight away that there was something different about it – and not just the fact that we use cuisenaire rods instead of pen and paper, writes Nadine Millar.

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Parents
Mar 28, 2017

Love at First Sight? When you don’t feel what you’re supposed to feel at your baby’s birth

What happens when your baby is born and you don’t feel anything? Nadine Millar shares her story of waiting for the feelings to come.

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Parents
Nov 22, 2016

‘I didn’t know who was failing – me or him’: On having a child who can’t read

Nadine Millar's son Cormac has loved books all his life – but for a long time he just couldn't (or wouldn't) read them. She explains why this wasn't as terrible as it first seemed, and tells the story of how Cormac finally learned to read.

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