ART · PHOTOGRAPHY
A photographic journey through the backroads of living differently. Acclaimed photographer Derek Henderson encounters and chronicles the nomadic life of Fergus and his horse Flex, with a new poem by the nomadic poet David Merritt.
LITERATURE · POETRY
A composite chronicle of various loves—desired, lost, or never realised—and their corresponding joys and griefs against the backdrops of contemporary art and late capitalism. Illustrations by Priscilla Rose Howe.
Librarian at Auckland Libraries Carin Smeaton interviews Hana Pera Aoake for the Heritage et AL blog regarding recent publications Some helpful models of grief with Compound Press, and Blame It On The Rain with Australian publisher No More Poetry.
Hana Pera Aoake’s book A bathful of kawakawa and hot water featured the work of Samoan-New Zealand typographer Joseph Churchward, whose work is also featured in the new Yorgos Lanthimos film Bugonia.
Hera Lindsay Bird features selections from Some helpful models of grief by Hana Pera Aoake as part of The Friday Poem series.
The Aotearoa New Zealand launch of The Tranquility of Solitude takes place at Auckland’s premier art book retailer Lamplight Books, 6pm Thursday 31 July, with the artist in attendance to sign books.
Book critic Anna Rankin reviews Some helpful models of grief by Hana Pera Aoake on Radio New Zealand National as part of the Jesse Mulligan Afternoons programme.
The debut collection from one of Aotearoa’s most exciting emerging poets wins the Jessie Mackay Prize for Best First Book of Poetry in the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards.
Take part in a new transformation with every new page as the speaker becomes by turns an egg, multiple trees, a town crier, a needle in a haystack, and a cone of blue light in this incisive and pathos-filled exploration of what it means to be anything at all.
From the judging panel:
“Dramatic monologues assail the reader with absurd, appealing, poignant, and humorous scenarios that are gleefully illogical, grandiose, deflating, and bulging with insight. The writing frequently overspills its lyrical open form and flows into newly imagined dimensions. It’s fun, fast, sometimes fragile, and full-on.”
With over a decade of issues featuring prominent and emerging writers and artists with a range of guest editors, Minarets has sought to connect the poetry and poetics of Aotearoa New Zealand with international ideas.
Purchase the latest issue and read past issues in full online.
ART · PHOTOGRAPHY
New Zealand born Derek Henderson (b. 1963) currently divides his time between Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia. Aside from his innovative and distinct work in fashion photography, Henderson also exhibits work as part of his fine-arts practice both nationally and internationally.
LITERATURE · POETRY
(Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Hinerangi, Tainui/Waikato) Artist, poet, writer, and curator; author of A bathful of kawakawa and hot water (Compound Press, 2020) and Blame it on the rain (No More Poetry, 2025). Hana lives in Kawerau in the shadow of Pūtauaki maunga, and is a PhD candidate at Auckland University of Technology.
