Tune in live on YouTube on Saturday 18 July (7.30pm NZ / 5.pm SYD / 3.30pm HK / 8.30am UK / 3.30am NYC (Weds)) to hear from Pasifika poets Nafanua Purcell Kersel and Amber Esau as they discuss how the writer life chose them, how their Pasifika heritage informs their work, and listen to a selection of poetry from their debut collections.

Can’t tune in live? Full recording will be available to catch up on YouTube later. Make sure you’ve subscribed so you don’t miss a thing!

NAFANUA PURCELL KERSEL

Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) is a writer, poet and performer who was born in Sāmoa and raised in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. Her poetry has been widely published.

Nafanua has an MA from the IIML at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and won the 2022 Biggs Family Prize in Poetry and 2026 Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for Black Sugarcane, her first book. She was also the 2025 Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence at the IIML, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

Nafanua lives in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay.

Instagram: @nua_no_myth

AMBER ESAU

Amber Esau is a SāMāoRish (Ngāpuhi / Manase) writer from Tāmaki Makaurau. She is a poet, storyteller, and professional bots.

Amber has a BCA from Manukau Institute of Technology and an MA from the International Institute of Modern Letters, and in 2023 she co-edited the queer poetry anthology Spoiled Fruit. She is a past recipient of the Emerging Pasifika Writers Residency from the Michael King Writers Centre and the Ideas In Residence residency from the Basement Theatre.

Always vibing at a languid pace, Amber has had work published in print and online journals.

Instagram: @ambert.esau