Kia ora koutou, nine decades, so I decided to choose the major things from each decade that made a difference to my life.

1929 born…I don’t remember this momentous event but it had to be better than the other option..

1930s…my father shot himself. I thought I might grow to forgive him but no. The Labour Party got into government in 1935. Everyone around me was so happy – a rare thing for working class people in the 30s.

1940s…the war. My Uncle Orm went away. I was Manpowered (that’s what it was called when the Manpower committee decided who should work where)so Ileft the small printing firm and went to  work at Swailes Printers Ltd. It was there, with the support and determined push of an older woman that I made a stand and refused to answer to Brownie or Reeney and only answer to Renée. And I met the man who would become my husband when he came out of the airforce and got a job at the same place.

1950s…My first son. Crazy, lyrics by Willie Nelson, sung by Patsy Cline. Still love it. Two more sons. Elvis got all shook up.  I was inveigled into working in Napier Repertory Theatre…turned out to be a life changer. Moved to Wairoa. First public protest. I wore a black armband when the All Blacks went to South Africa with no Maori.

1960s … well there’s Bob Dylan, and the times did change. Vietnam War protests…

1970s … asked to teach at Wairoa College. I loved teaching. Broadsheet’s first publication. The land March. Whina Cooper. Not One More Acre, Raglan Golf Course. Bastion Point.

1980s …Auckland. Marched against the Tour. Wrote first play. Wrote revues which toured Aotearoa. Joined Broadsheet Collective. Wrote more plays. Marched for Homosexual Law Reform. 1986, we won. Went to USA, Europe, Britain. 1989 Got Robert Burns Fellowship at Otago University, bit of a turn up for the books but yes, it was true. First novel published.

1990s…interviewed women who’d been ‘Sent up North’ and for whom I wrote Does This Make Sense To You? It was a great honour for me to receive their stories and their trust. I’ve kept to the no names agreement, will do so forever. First bout of cancer. End of decade moved to Otaki, began making garden.

2000s… Turned 80, went to China. Learned to play ukulele. Formed a group. We had all been high achievers so it was character building to try something in which we would never be more than barely competent.

2010s…got a letter to say I’d been awarded an ONZM. A mistake? Apparently not. Then the Kingi Ihaka Award? No that wasn’t a mistake either…2018 Prime Minister’s Award for Literature, yes the nice guy said, it definitely is you. Far out, I thought, leaping back into the 60s language for the moment. Same sex marriage became legal. I began writing WednesdayBusk. I have always liked Wednesdays (yes I know, weird, but they’ve been good to me). Second bout of cancer. Double Mastectomy. My memoir, These Two Hands, pub Makaro Press. First crime novel The Wild Card pub The Cuba Press. Bob Dylan presented us with Rough and Rowdy Ways.

During these years my sister Val, then my brother Russell, died. It still does not seem right. I was a year older than my brother and two years older than my sister. I was the boss. When they were small I told them to wait for me to cross the road first.

2020s… second edition These two Hands. Macular Degeneration starts really kicking in. Teaching the last Your Life Your Story workshop. Turned 92. Still writing…

Renée