Fast Talking PI

NZSA JESSIE MACKAY BEST FIRST BOOK OF POETRY AWARD WINNER

Fast Talking PI
Selina Tusitala Marsh
Auckland University Press
ISBN 9781869404321
RRP $27.99

Fast Talking PI is the first collection by fast talking Auckland poet Selina Tusitala Marsh. ‘Tusitala’ means writer of tales, and Marsh here lives up to her name with stories of her life, her family and her community, her ancestry, her influences and her history. Marsh’s poetry is sensuous but strong, using lush imagery and clear rhythms and repetitions to power it forward.

Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh is a poet and scholar of Samoan, Tuvaluan, Scottish and French descent who lives with her family on Waiheke Island in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf. Selina Tusitala Marsh’s writing deals with issues that affect the Pacific Island communities in New Zealand and indigenous peoples elsewhere, most recently focusing on the challenges and triumphs of being afakasi (half-caste).