Write Night is a new monthly meet-up opportunity for writers of all persuasions to get together, discuss projects, seek advice, eat biscuits and meet like-minded scribes. Each session features a special guest presenter.

November’s guest is Leilani Tamu. Leilani is a poet, social commentator, Pacific historian and former New Zealand diplomat. In 2013 she was the Fulbright / Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at the University of Hawai’i in M?noa. Prior to this, Leilani worked as a freelance writer with regular contributions appearing in Auckland’s Metro Magazine that tackled issues as diverse as racism, unemployment, property investment, cyber bullying, youth suicide and motherhood. Her debut book of poetry The Art of Excavation was released in 2014 and has been described as “an impressive debut that lays poetic roots in the present in order to nourish the past” (Paula Green). Reviews of the book have appeared in The Sunday Star Times, Dominion Post, Otago Daily Times, Landfall, Booksellers Online, NZPoetryShelf.com, New Zealand Books and SPASIFIK. Leilani lives in West Auckland with her husband and two children. More