The Songmaker’s Chair tells the story of a Samoan family, the ‘Āīga Sā-Peseola, which has been in Auckland since the 1950s. Over three generations, the family members have intermarried with Māori and Pākehā to develop what they refer to as the Peseola Way. Central to that way are the magnificent Polynesian exploration and settlement of the Pacific and a songmaking tradition, which Peseola Olaga, the family patriarch, has inherited from his father. At the heart of the play is the love between Peseola Olaga and Malaga, his wife, and how they’ve struggled to give their children a good life in Aotearoa. Theirs is the Peseola Way: defiant, honest and unflinching even in the face of death.

Albert Wendt is one of New Zealand’s and the Pacific’s major poets and novelists, and he has been an influential figure since the 1970s in the development of New Zealand and Pacific literature. He has published numerous novels and collections of poetry and short stories, and he has edited several notable anthologies of Pacific writing. His work has been translated into many languages and is taught around the world.

12.5 x 20.5 cm