An inspirational graphic memoir of growing up Pasifika in New Zealand, written and illustrated by our fast-talking PI Poet Laureate, Selina Tusitala Marsh. At school, Selina is teased for her big, frizzy hair. Kids call her 'mophead'. She ties her hair up this way and that way and tries to fit in. Until one day - Sam Hunt plays a role - Selina gives up the game. She decides to let her hair out, to embrace her difference, to be WILD! Selina takes us through special moments in her extraordinary life. She becomes one of the first Pasifika women to hold a PhD. She reads for the Queen of England and Samoan royalty. She meets Barack Obama. And then she is named the New Zealand Poet Laureate. She picks up her special tokotoko, and notices something. It has wild hair coming out the end. It looks like a mop. A kid on the Waiheke ferry teases her about it. So she tells him a story . . . This is an inspirational graphic memoir, full of wry humour, that will appeal to young readers and adults alike. Illustrated with wit and verve by the author - NZ's bestselling Poet Laureate - Mophead tells the true story of a New Zealand woman realising how her difference can make a difference.
Selina Tusitala Marsh Libri
La Dott.ssa Selina Tusitala Marsh è una poetessa celebrata il cui lavoro approfondisce il potere e le sfumature dell'identità delle isole del Pacifico. La sua scrittura è caratterizzata dal suo ritmo dinamico e dalla sua intensità lirica, esplorando spesso temi di eredità, resilienza e l'intersezione di storie personali e collettive. La voce distintiva di Marsh colma le divisioni culturali, offrendo ai lettori una profonda connessione con le storie e le esperienze della comunità Pasifika. La sua poesia rappresenta un contributo significativo alla letteratura contemporanea, risuonando sia con la sua specificità culturale sia con le sue verità umane universali.




Tightrope
- 112pagine
- 4 ore di lettura
Exploring the themes of memory, life, and death, Selina Tusitala Marsh's work delves into the metaphor of a tightrope as a means of navigating life's challenges. Through her poetry, she examines the power of storytelling and its potential to heal and transform. The collection serves as a reflection on personal and collective experiences, inviting readers to consider the profound impact of narratives in confronting the complexities of existence.
Mophead Tu: The Queen's Poem
- 96pagine
- 4 ore di lettura
"In her bestselling Mophead, poet laureate and fast talking PI Selina Tusitala Marsh recounted her experience growing up Pasifika in Aotearoa and realising how her (and your) difference can make a difference. In Mophead Tu, Selina is crowned Commonwealth Poet and invited to perform for the Queen in Westminster Abbey. But when someone at work calls her a `sellout¿, Selina starts doubting herself. Can she stand with her people who struggled against the Queen . . . and still serve the Queen? From the sinking islands in the South Seas to the smoggy streets of London, Mophead Tu: The Queen¿s Poem is a hilariously thought-provoking take on colonial histories and one poet¿s journey to bridge the divide."
Fast Talking Pi
- 88pagine
- 4 ore di lettura
Fast Talking PI is the first 'singular, confident and musical' collection of poetry by Auckland writer Selina Tusitala Marsh. 'Tusitala' means writer of tales in Samoan, and Marsh here lives up to her name with stories of her life, her family, community, ancestry, and history. Her poetry is sensuous and strong, using lush imagery, clear rhythms and repetitions to power it forward. The list poem is a favourite style, but she also writes with a Pacific lyricism entirely her own. Fast Talking PI is structured in three sections, 'Tusitala (personal), 'Talkback' (political and historical) and 'Fast Talking PI' (already a classic). In poems like 'Guys Like Gauguin' she writes as a 'calabash breaker', fighting back against historic injustices; but in other poems she explores the idea of the calabash as the honoured vessel for identity and story. Ultimately, though, Marsh exhorts herself to 'be nobody's darling', as a writer she is a self-proclaimed 'darling in the margins', and Fast Talking PI proves it - a generous work that will thrill readers; 'a map in our arms / to get us over the reef'; and a tremendous first book.