Ep 132: Whiti Hereaka talks to Pip Adam about imagined (at the moment) art work in the project she is working on.
Better off ReadShow Notes
As I mentioned in my last post, I am at a really strange moment - without a project, unsure if there will be another one - and in this series, I am speaking to people at various stages of a project to talk process. I’m interested in talking to people about what activities they’re doing and what is useful. In this episode I get to talk to one of my best friends and someone who inspires me a lot Whiti Hereaka. We talk about Whiti’s latest project. I’m asking everyone to offer an object that is somehow helping them at this stage of their work. Whiti suggested we use the art works created by a central character in her novel. These works are imagined at the moment, but Whiti is an amazing artist and it wouldn’t surprise me if these don’t come to life in some way. Whiti sent two photos and said I could use both. I love the way these photos could be ego and alter-ego. Both images were taken the amazing Tabitha Arthur. I’m so incredibly grateful to Whiti, for this conversation sure but also for all the time and support she’s given me over the years and for all the work she’s done which has produced such amazing work. Where I’m up to. I’ve had a really nice week, book-wise. Yesterday Rebecca Priestly and I got to talk to some folk who are doing MA’s up at IIML. It was really exciting to hear about Rebecca’s new book End Times which launches next week. You can read more about End Times at this link Also yesterday I got to speak at the launch of Emma Ling Sidnam’s amazing novel Backwaters. It was a really great night with lots of my favourite people in the room. I had a great chat with I. S. Belle whose work, and practice I really love. Here’s a link to learn more about I. S. Belle’s work Here’s a link to Backwaters by Emma Ling Sidnam When I ask people on this podcast what sustains them, they often say community and I really felt that last night. It is really nice to see celebrate other people’s success. I found it really motivating and talking to everyone about their projects was also really great. I still haven’t written anything. I keep saying this but what I mean is I haven’t written any fiction. I’m actually writing an essay for HEAT about writing violence and I’m writing a list of books for someone. So I am writing - and I’m writing this. I am thinking about the novel. And I wrote an application for some time to work on the novel, so that was a really nice way to think about it and also go over what I have written to send a writing sample. I’m rewatching VEEP which is blowing my mind. It’s all come true!!!!!
More from Better off Read
On the 5th of September this year, i was lucky enough to be in an event at Word Festival called I Wish I Wrote That with an incredibly talented line-up of writers including Jon Toogood. Jon had an event before ours and i watched him perform 'Home Again' on acoustic guitar from the Green Room. Even backstage and through a screen i found myself moved to tears - it's an incredible piece of songwriting that just seems to hit me more and more profoundly. About five minutes into Jon's book signing i needed to go to the foyer and it was wild. One thing became really clear - people love Jon and Jon's book and Shihad. During our event, Jon read a really beautiful piece about Aldous Harding's song 'Treasure'. One of the really great things about Jon's memoir Home Again is the way he writes about music, not just the music he makes but the music he loves.
Helen and i have been friends for a long time. Over the years her work has been incredibly inspiring to me. When i say 'Helen's work' i mean her writing, her activism, her visual art, her journaling, her essays, her thinking, her teaching, her friendship, her family-ship, her gardening and all the other amazing things she does. i also admire the way it is quite hard to separate these 'works' out from each other. If there is such a thing as an artist's life i think Helen is a really great example of that. When we met a few weeks ago, Helen brought along her journal as the object to act as a starting place for this conversation.
September is such an exciting month because it sees the launch of The Valley of Unlikely Acquaintances an amazing novel written by Terri Te Tau and published by Spoor Books
i loved talking to Molly Crighton over Zoom earlier this month about her new novel The Body and the Blood out with Hachette New Zealand
i'm really grateful to Tīhema Baker for speaking with me about his new novel One Day a Taniwha (Hachette) i was a massive fan of Tīhema's last novel Turncoat and i've enjoyed hearing Tīhema talk over the last few years. i was lucky enough to read Tīhema's book last year and i loved it. i reread it for this podcast and i still love it. Maybe even more. It's an incredibly compelling story set in several planes of experience - centrally the waking and sleeping lives. It's an incredibly intelligent and beautiful novel. Through this deft craft i think it makes possible new ways of thinking about fatherhood, work, mental health and how these are effected by colonisation and colonialism. In our discussion i touch on how fresh and cutting edge Tīhema's depiction of fatherhood is. i just can't recommend it enough. This podcast was recorded over Zoom.