Tayi Tibble
Tayi Tibble (Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Porou) is a poet and writer. Her first collection of poetry, Poūkahangatus, won the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Tayi’s second book, Rangikura was shortlisted for the 2022 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham Awards. Her work has been published in various journals and magazines. In July 2023 her poem “Creation Story” was published in The New Yorker; she is the fifth New Zealander and first Māori writer to have work published in the magazine. Her essay, On Being Skux, is one of the most-read pieces ever published in the Pantograph Punch. In 2018 she read her poem Hoki Mai at an Anzac Day parade attended by 25,000 people in Wellington.
2024 festival sessions
You Had Me at Poetry
Chris Tse and Tayi Tibble in conversation with Tania Miller
Rock-star NZ poets Chris and Tayi talk to librarian Tania about their poetry and the generational and cultural shift taking place in Aotearoa/NZ poetry. Tayi, as wahine Maori, and Chris, a queer Chinese-NZ man, share a deep sense of purpose, a great sense of humour and a fabulous sense of fashion. Tania manages the adult collection at Marlborough Library at Te Kahu o Waipuna, but many young adults who grew up in Blenheim will remember her from the children’s library in their early reading days. All three have a not-so-hidden agenda to win over young people and the poetry-reluctant to the joys of poetry and reading in general.
An Hour with Tayi Tibble
Tayi Tibble in conversation with Louis Pinker Meihana
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brisbane… Blenheim! We’re thrilled to bring Tayi Tibble to town. The New York Times described Tayi as a “surpassingly daring new poet”. Her poem Creation Story was published in The New Yorker last year. Her essay, On Being Skux, is one of the most-read pieces ever published in the Pantograph Punch. Her poem Hoki Mai is on its way to becoming an Anzac Day classic. This is all to say that Tayi is wildly talented, perceptive, fun, and hard-working. We’re very excited she is coming to Blenheim between international festivals and suggest you book your tickets ASAP before they sell out. Tayi will be in conversation with Louis Pinker Meihana (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa ki Te Rā Tō, Ngāti Maniapoto, Te Arawa).