Book mingles cultures, makes magic happen

Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa, the first book by award-winning alumna and a senior tutor in creative writing Tina Makereti Dahlberg, will be launched in Wellington tonight.

It is a collection of short stories featuring old myths and new, and includes one of the two stories for which she won awards last year - Skin and Bones, a tale about the creation of the first woman by the Mäori god of the forests, Täne Mahuta.

Ms Dahlberg (Ngäti Tüwharetoa, Te Atiawa, Ngäti Rangatahi) writes under the name Tina Makereti. She says Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa (Huia Publishers) explores a world where mythological characters and stories become part of everyday life. "Old and new worlds co-exist, cultures mingle and magic happens."

Ms Dahlberg teaches life writing from the Wellington campus to internal and extramural students. She has a Bachelor of Arts (1994) and Postgraduate Diploma in Mäori Development (2007) and is now completing a PhD in creative writing at Victoria University. In 2007 she was awarded Massey's RG Frean Prize for Creative Writing.

Another Massey creative writing tutor, Kelly Joseph (Ngäti Maniapoto) designed the book's cover. Ms Joseph's entry into last year's Huia Publishers Short Story Award was highly commended by the judges and she was chosen as the Mäori writer in residence at Kapiti Island from June to August last year.