Q The past, present and future of New Zealand literature is a very broad and daunting subject to have to reflect on. Without wishing to steal the thunder from your address, can you tell how you set about approaching the subject matter?
A I suggested the topic four months ago, and I wish I hadn't. Ever since, I have been going round and round in circles trying to answer the question. The easy part was writing about the past, at least we know where New Zealand literature has come from.
The hard part has been to look at the present: the New Zealand landscape for writers and publishers has changed a lot and then there's the impact of the digital revolution and our growing interconnection with the wider world. All those matters to do with nation, identity, location, race, internationalism and ''ungrateful huas'', are up for grabs.
The consequence is that I have not written this address the way I normally do. If you think of a block of stone and ask yourself the question ''How do you carve an elephant out of the stone?'' you go ahead and carve the elephant, right? But with this speech I've had to carve away everything that isn't the elephant! And I still don't have all the answers so I am planning to involve the audience in some key questions. All in 40 minutes. I hope they don't get giddy.
Q Does the future of New Zealand literature excite you?
A Yes, there are some great writers like Fiona Kidman, Owen Marshall, Patricia Grace, C. K. Stead and Lloyd Jones, among others who continue to give our literature good strong bones. And then there's the current crop of writers like Our Ellie (Eleanor Catton), Anthony McCarten, Emily Perkins, Tina Makereti and Paula Morris, who are making the literature sparkle and fizz, and that's not counting the poets, playwrights and film-makers. I know that some people think we are standing on a cliff right now, what with publishing houses appearing to go down the drain. And questions about the death of the book, with bookshops closing or reducing stock. The world for the New Zealand writer is changing but the will to become a writer is still there, vigorously so among emerging writers like Lani Wendt, Paul Cleave and Catherine Robertson.
Q Why do you think New Zealand produces so many writers?
A That's a surprising question, I wouldn't have thought New Zealand was producing so many writers! Are we? Overall, probably, I think a lot of publicity is given to new writers who have benefited from the democratisation of all our political and cultural systems. Once upon a time writers were people who we thought of as being special but today everybody can have a go, which is great. And there are university creative writing courses when, in my day, you figured it all out by yourself. I created the master's course in Auckland and, actually, I would love to go on one of those courses myself and have a year off to write my next book with the benefit of a mentor. The problem is sustaining your career and finding ways to publicise your talent and work in a complicated and crowded media environment. That's when you have to know how to do the biz.
Q During the festival you will be sharing the stage with Patricia Grace. What will be for you the most rewarding prospect of this opportunity?
A Actually I am not sharing the stage with Pat, this is her session. What I am doing is chairing it and asking her questions. When I was asked to do this I said no at first because she's one of the best New Zealand writers and I am in awe of her. I'll try to get over that so that I can show the audience the Pat that I know, my friend who writes at her kitchen table, who saves land from motorways and who still writes incredible books. Her next one comes out in a month or so, it might even be available at the festival. If it is, Dunedin will be the first place where it will be talked about.
Q You will also be discussing your recently published memoir during the festival. Where does writing about yourself fall on your own scale of personal challenges?
A I am talking about the writing of memoir with Elspeth Sandys and Fiona Farrell so I am not sure how much I can tell the audience about Maori Boy within my 15 minutes or so; I'll be more interested in what they say. Maori Boy was published last November and my publisher Harriet Allan and editor Anna Rogers were the ones who encouraged me to do it and to complete it. On my scale of personal challenges? Well, every book is a challenge. You think that you can count on previous experience but it's always a case of back to basics, to thinking about structure, style, character, narrative and what will drive everything forward. In the case of Maori Boy, my main challenge was getting over myself, and telling myself ''You can do it''. Once I got through that I then had to try to do justice to the great extended family and whanau who have been so central to my life. Then there was the matter of the level of disclosure as there's some stuff that most people like to keep secret and, as those who have read the book will know, I decided to go deep.
Q What special memories does Dunedin hold for you?
A My elder daughter was born in Dunedin when [his wife] Jane (Cleghorn) and I came here, and I had a year as the Burns Fellow. We lived in Como St, and I liked to tell people I was the only Maori living, at the time, on Maori Hill. Historically, I have a particular affection for Dunedin because it was the place where Taranaki Maori were exiled to after the fall of Parihaka, and your citizens were very sympathetic to them. I have written about this in my novel The Parihaka Woman. And I made good friends here and shared great conversations around warm log fires.
Q What are you looking forward to when you are here?
A Being with old friends and making new ones. And Dunedin is such a great city to walk around. As well, I'm a bit of a literary groupie so I will try to go to as many sessions of the festival as possible to hear other writers talking about life, literature and their whole damn universe.
At the festival
• Witi Ihimaera will give the annual New Zealand Book Council address at the official festival opening. Festival Foreword, Thursday, May 7, 6pm-7.30pm Regent Theatre.
• A Korero with Patricia Grace, St Paul's Cathedral, Saturday, May 9, 1pm-2pm.
• Just Who Do You Think You Are? Witi Ihimaera and Elspeth Sandys discuss writing their memoirs with Fiona Farrell. Regent Theatre, Saturday, May 9, 3.30pm-4.30pm.
