Next Friday and Saturday, the Kupu Māori Writers Festival brings together authors from across the motu to significant locations across Rotorua.
It will be followed - for the first time in the festival's history - by the Māori Literature Trust's 30-year-old Pikihuia Awards.
Kupu Festival's first day is in Te Reo Māori, and features many esteemed translators and authors. Among them, this week's Fast Favourites guest, Hēmi Kelly.
Kelly is a te reo Māori kaiako (teacher), translator, writer, and composer. He's the creator behind the Everyday Māori podcast - now at over 100 episodes - and the author of A Māori Word a Day, A Māori Phrase a Day, and brand new pukapuka Everyday Māori: Ia rā, ia rā.
Hēmi has translated into te reo one of the world's most translated books The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, literary works by Witi Ihimaera and Brian Friel. Not to mention music for Lorde and Che Fu.
