Leilani Tamu

Guest writer

Leilani Tamu is a poet, Fulbright alumna and former New Zealand diplomat. She has ancestral and marital ties to Samoa, Tonga and Niue. Her first book The Art of Excavation was long listed in the 2015 Ockham national book awards. Leilani was born in Auckland in 1982.

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My childhood was branded by shame. I’ll no longer let it define me

If we want to address family violence in Aotearoa, we need to change the way we act and think about shame.

By Leilani Tamu | 22nd August, 2020

Meeting at Parihaka Pa, with Te Whetu, where a call was made to tax the rich Ref: 1/1-012103-G. Alexander Turnbull Library

The long nightmare of imperialism: part 3 of the strange story of Tonga’s lost island of ‘Ata

All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books looks at Scott Hamilton's brilliant new book, The Stolen Island, his investigation into the people-snatching raid on the Tongan island of 'Ata. Today: Leilani Tamu writes, "When the slavers came, they took more than our men. They raped our women. Beat our children. Pissed on our ancestors. Pissed on us."

By Leilani Tamu | 1st March, 2017