Transcript
Once a poet always a poet. Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh performed a poem she wrote as her acceptance speech.
"I accept this award on behalf of Pasifika peoples
whose brown faces
aspire to higher places"
Selina has been awarded over US$57,000 or NZ$80,000 over two years by the National Library of New Zealand.
Through her poetry, the words and the rhythm of words combined, Selina seeks to connect with people.
Her role is to create new work and promote and make poetry accessible throughout the country.
"It's packed
and you got 90 lives to work to make them proud
into some kind of synthesis
some kind of wonderful"
Selina publicly accepted the award on National Poetry Day and at the launch of her latest book, titled Tightrope.
Selina receives a carved tokotoko or orator's stick for the duration of her tenure, and says she feels deeply honoured.
"I share this award with everyone and I share the tokotoko with everyone and I just want to take poetry into unexpected places because I really believe that poetry is for the people. "
Samoa's former Head of State Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi was in Auckland.
He says he fully supports Selina's work and her words are very powerful as they communicate values and vision.
He says Selina has an ability to make her point but does it in a way that is full of meaning and nuance and it draws out the best from culture.
"Well I am part of the family and I am very proud to be here amongst all the people who have come to hail this high achievement. It is not only a high achievement for her and her family, it is a high achievement for all of us."
The University of Auckland's Dean of Faculty of Arts Professor Robert Greenberg hails from America and is pleased.
"Selina brings such creativity and originality, and she is such a fantastic poet and a performer and so it is amazing how she combines music and rhythm and rhyme and her language. She also is an amazing colleague for academia and an inspiration to her students and her community as well."
Part of Selina's journey has been to find her own voice through poetry.
Her one piece of advice to others, especially of Pacific descent, is to do the same.
"Keep writing and believe in yourself and that unique thing that you have inside, let it shine. And like very early on someone had said to me that aw you shouldn't rhyme in my poetry and.... because it wasn't very sophisticated but then I thought actually I don't want to be sophisticated, I want to be communicated. I want to be able to connect and touch people and if rhythm and rhyme is the way to do that then Im gonna do that."
Selina has been writing and immersing herself in literature since she was little.
She remembers her late mother taking her to the Salvation Army stores as a kid, and she'd always pick books to take home.
"I accept this award on behalf of mum
who spoke no English when she came from Samoa.
As her daughter I accept the award of New Zealand Poet Laureate
Quite poetic - don't you think Aotearoa?"
Among her many literary achievements, her poetry has been published in over 70 books and journals.
Last year Selina was invited to perform before Queen Elizabeth II at Westminister Abbey as the Commonwealth Poet.
She is currently an Associate Professor and lecturer at the University of Auckland and was the first Pacific Islander to gain a PhD in English there.
