Kia ora, last Saturday night, August 31st, at Te Papa I was one of the recipients who was awarded a Kingi Ihaka Award. My award was for contributions to literature and theatre and to teaching and mentoring. I was thrilled to receive this award and absolutely delighted that it included teaching and mentoring in the citation. Not very often these two attributes are included in any award that I know of apart of course from education awards. It was a happy night and we all enjoyed the evening immensely.
When I thanked Te Waka Toi for including me among the recipients of this award, I mentioned story and it seems to me that stories are what that connects all cultures. We all tell each other stories. It has been going on forever and will continue to do so. Stories inspire, teach and entertain us. They provide escape, they show what happens when you let one of the big three, Greed, Desire, Revenge, dictate your actions and they show how all of us at some stage or another are overcome by these drivers and its how we learn to deal with them that makes the story. Stories can be told in song, in poetry, in fiction and nonfiction. We watch them on the stage, on film, read them on websites, on ebook readers and on pages, we listen to them on radio or on audiobooks.
Sometimes stories are called great lies, sometimes they are called great truths, sometimes they are called great fiction, great plays, great memoir, great poetry. Depends on your point of view. But sometimes great lies turn out to be great truths and vice versa – time sorts that out.
For me the King Ihaka award continues a story that it began in 1986 when it was set up to recognise Maori Arts and Artists – and it continues to do that today. The first meeting of the Maori Artists and Writers was held in Wairoa in 1986 and I was there – took a bit of gumption to go – hadn’t had a lot published then and what I had was in magazines and newspapers, all ephemeral sort of stuff – not real writing I thought then – but I lived in Wairoa at the time and I figured that if I didn’t like it I could always hop in the car and come home. I sat in the background and watched and listened and didn’t say a word. Probably a first, I hear you say. And you’re probably right.
Nga mihi to Te Waka Toi, CreativeNZ and to everyone who helped organise this event. A great night.
