Selina Tusitala Marsh

Guest writer

Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh is New Zealand's poet laureate. She is an Auckland-based writer of Samoan, Tuvaluan, English, Scottish and French descent. Her collection of verse Tightrope was published by Auckland University Press in 2017. Selina was born in Auckland in 1971.

Nickolas Muray ‘Frida Kahlo on Bench #5’ 1939. The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation. © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives (Additional design: The Spinoff)

The Friday Poem: ‘Frida, the Believer’ by Selina Tusitala Marsh

A new poem by Selina Tusitala Marsh, written in response to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Art and Life in Modern Mexico, on now at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 13th January, 2023

Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh with her own orator’s tokotoko, topped with a Sāmoan fue, or fly whisk.

Pasifika power in Westminster

Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh on the time she 'did her fast-talking PI thang' for the Queen.

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 11th September, 2022

Lloyd Jones (third from left) and Selina Tusitala Marsh (third from right) go swimming. (Image: Supplied)

‘Maybe Lloyd Jones is trying to kill me.’ Selina Tusitala Marsh goes swimming

Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh tells of the time she went swimming in deep, deep water with novelist Lloyd Jones at Byron Bay.

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 3rd October, 2018

Jacinda Ardern and her newborn daughter Neve (supplied)

The Friday Poem: ‘Jacinda and Clarke and the Baby and Us’ by the NZ poet laureate

New Zealand poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh marks the very fine and wonderful occasion of the birth of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's baby daughter.

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 22nd June, 2018

High levels of fish dumping have been found in another leaked MPI report (Getty Images)

The Friday Poem: ‘How to woo your husband’ by Selina Tusitala Marsh

New verse by the poet laureate of New Zealand, Selina Tusitala Marsh.

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 19th January, 2018

The Monday Poem: ‘The Dogs of Talimatau’ by Selina Tusitala Marsh

The Monday Poem: ‘The Dogs of Talimatau’ by Selina Tusitala Marsh

Every day this week the Spinoff Review of Books is publishing a new poem in the build-up to the Phantom Billstickers national poetry day on Friday. Today: 'The Dogs of Talimatau' by Selina Tusitala Marsh

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 21st August, 2017

The Friday Poem: ‘Orange Crayon Stick Figure Man’ by Selina Tusitala Marsh

The Friday Poem: ‘Orange Crayon Stick Figure Man’ by Selina Tusitala Marsh

Happy birthday today, Sam Hunt! To mark the occasion we present a poem by Selina Tusitala Marsh.

By Selina Tusitala Marsh | 4th July, 2017