Tusitala by Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson (Signed by Author)

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“Plastic skin
Big mouth
The other day this lady laughed when I told her where my fibres come from
But I weave, but I weave, but I weave”

Tusitala is the debut poetry collection from Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson.

This book was written for "the mothers who whispered wisdom into my ears, aunties who slipped twenty-dollar notes into my hands and sisters who cackled with me into the night. These poems are an archive of the lives we have lived together. They are eternal - like us."

Published by Tagata AtamaiPrinted in Auckland by Ligare

A5, Paperback

83 pages

ISBN 978-0-473-72110-7

About the author

Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson is a Samoan(Falealili, Falelatai)/Welsh writer, poet, journalist, kaiako and multidisciplinary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is also the founder and director of Tagata Atamai and the Moana Creative Business Network. Both projects aim to amplify voices of the Moana through community, culture and creativity.

In 2024, Danielle was commissioned by Nevertheless Trust to create a visual art display of her poem ‘Ie Lavalava’ for the Arts and Culture Festival of the Rainbow Games. During that same year, Danielle's writing was published in Salient, Bad Apple and Awa Wahine's Papatūānuku Collection. As a result of her promising contributions to the storytelling landscape in Aotearoa, Danielle was profiled in Rima Magazine: Awa Wahine and selected to participate in the pilot Pōkai Tuhi wānanga.

Danielle's debut poetry collection, Tusitala, was published by Tagata Atamai in September 2024. Through art and upu, she hopes to "facilitate connection, healing and the preservation of sacred cultural knowledge.”

@tagataatamai @daniellekionasinawrites @moanacreativebusinessnetwork