{"product_id":"big-fat-brown-bitch-by-tusiata-avia-copy","title":"Giving Birth to My Father by Tusiata Avia","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"product__description rte quick-add-hidden\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMy father has been chipping himself down since he arrived here, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003ehe is half man and half vessel, readying for the journey to Hawaiki.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003eGiving Birth to My Father\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis about learning to live with a loss that seems simply too heavy to bear. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003eFirst, Tusiata Avia tells the imagined story – the one of how things should go – followed by the story of what really happens. As her father travels through his last days and into the arms of his tupu'aga, transformed, the family gathers around him with their love and raw need, and their suffering turns to storm clouds. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003eFor Avia, his death is a beginning. Parent and child have switched places as the river carries them downstream, and she sees her father with new eyes. But this is also a time of not knowing to whom she belongs and where she will be welcome now.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003eThis is an extraordinarily rich poetic work about grief and renewal that will rearrange its readers.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGiving Birth to My Father\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etakes in a world of family and memory, including a sequence of poems about a much-loved brother as he faces a life-threatening injury. It is a book about ways of holding one another even after we are gone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003e'Rich, raw, deeply moving. This collection is a glorious celebration of Avia’s father’s life, a salute to his teachings. An embrace of family in the widest sense, even the mean aunties.' —Gina Cole,\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eKete Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003eTusiata Avia\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis the award-winning author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWild Dogs Under My Skirt\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2004; also staged internationally),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBloodclot\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e(2009),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFale Aitu | Spirit House\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e(2016),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Savage Coloniser Book\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2020; winner of the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry and also staged nationally) and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBig Fat Brown Bitch\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2023). Tusiata has held the Fulbright Pacific Writers Fellowship at the University of Hawai‘i in 2005 and the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at University of Canterbury in 2010. She was the 2013 recipient of the Janet Frame Literary Trust Award, and in 2020 was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to poetry and the arts. In 2023 she was given a Distinguished Alumni Award at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCover art: Pati Solomona Tyrell\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Upstart Distribution","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43077521309762,"sku":"WS-TEWAKPRESS-GIVINGBIRTHTOMYFATHER","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0265\/5689\/1202\/files\/WebsiteBG_01b91032-8aef-48d1-9d2b-86029bd35e2c.png?v=1773182979","url":"https:\/\/shop.moanafresh.com\/products\/big-fat-brown-bitch-by-tusiata-avia-copy","provider":"Moana Fresh","version":"1.0","type":"link"}