Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings

In her prizewinning debut novel Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings Tina Makereti confronts the complexities of cultural heritage, the past and the present, and Moriori, Maori and Pakeha identity. The novel is a compelling, powerful and haunting work.  

In 2014, Makereti came to Going West to discuss her book live on stage with colleague, scholar and poet Selina Tusitala Marsh - who began the session with a poem penned for Tina and her extraordinary novel. 

The session was an insightful, thoughtful and inspiring one, delving into the process behind the writing.

Tina Makereti writes essays, novels and short fiction. Her most recent novel is The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke (longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards Fiction Award, 2019) and optioned by Taika Waititi’s Piki Films for development. 

Alongside Witi Ihimaera, she is co-editor of Black Marks on the White Page, an anthology celebrating Māori and Pasifika writing. In 2016, her story, Black Milk, won the Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize, Pacific region. Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings was her first novel and it, won the 2014 Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction, also won by Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa. 

In 2009, Makereti received the RSNZ Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing and the Pikihuia Award for Best Short Story in English. She teaches creative writing and Oceanic literatures at Massey University

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Image: Tina Makareti Speaks at Going West Festival. Photograph by Gil Hanly.