Selina Tusitala Marsh
Selina Tusitala Marsh (ONZM, FRSNZ) is the former Commonwealth Poet, New Zealand Poet Laureate and acclaimed performer and author. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to poetry, literature and the Pacific community and in 2020 Selina was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. An Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Auckland, Selina teaches Maori and Pacific Literature and Creative Writing.
Selina has performed poetry for primary schoolers and presidents (Obama), for queers and Queens (HRH Elizabeth II), for Gucci and graffiti artists (see Avondale Community Centre). She has published three critically acclaimed collections of poetry, Fast Talking PI, Dark Sparring, and Tightrope. Her graphic memoir, Mophead, won the Margaret Mahy Supreme Book in the 2020 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and won the PANZ Best Book Design for 2020, its sequel, Mophead TU: The Queen’s Poem has been shortlisted for the NZ Book Awards 2021.