We love bringing you innovative ways to connect with New Zealand authors. Which is why we are delighted to be partnering with the Urban Walking Festival to extend their delightful project Seven Days of Walking: writing to inspire walking delivered to your phone by text message.
We teamed up with UWF to add new commissions from Amber Esau and Michael Steven to the already stellar line up of Mustaq Missouri, Jaq Tweedie and Courtney Sina Meredith.
Wake up to a poetic provocation inspiring you to stretch your legs or get a reminder in your pocket at morning tea to go out and experience the world.
Amber Esau is a Sā-māo-rish (Ngāpuhi / Manase) writer of things from Tāmaki Makaurau, with a Gemini Sun / Virgo Moon. Always vibing at a languid pace, her work has been published both in print and online.
Central city dweller Mustaq Missouri is better known as an actor, however by day he is writing a novel of diaspora, displacement and connection. In 2021 an excerpt from this novel appeared in A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices From Aotearoa New Zealand.
Jaq Tweedie has written and performed for radio, television, stage and screen. Her books include a poetry collection: The Gull Club published by Dunbar Noon.
Courtney Sina Meredith is a pacific poet, playwright, fiction writer and artist. In 2021 she published her latest collection of poems – Burst Kisses on the Actual Wind – with Beatnik Publishing
Michael Steven is an award-winning poet. His honours include the Todd New Writer’s Bursary; the Blackwood Paul Memorial Prize; and the 2021 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award for his manuscript Night School, which was published by Otago University Press. He lives in the Waitākere region of Tāmaki Makaurau and works as a labourer.
Seven Days of Walking delivers a micro poem or walking prompt to your phone each day for seven days, taking you on a journey of discovery. One that starts wherever you are when you receive the txt.
Five writers – Amber Esau, Mustaq Missouri, Jaq Tweedie, Courtney Sina Meredith and Michael Steven – have each created a week-long walking experience for you. All you need to do is sign up and, on Monday, when you get your first txt, start your seven days of walking.
You might also enjoy the other guided walks on the UWF website: there are geographically specific guides using a host of inventive storytelling devices, walking you through the histories and environs all over Tāmaki Makaurau: from Pakuranga to Takapuna, Waitākere to Karangahape, and beyond.
You can register at any time, and your provocations will start arriving on the following Monday. Registrations close at 9pm each Sunday for the coming week.
