NUKU Pukapuka Shortlisted For Major Literary Award

Today it was announced that NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booksellers Aotearoa NZ Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction as part of the national Ockham NZ Book Awards. This gorgeous coffee-table pukapuka combines text and photography to celebrate the diversity, strength, knowledge, and lived experiences of wāhine taketake.

This announcement comes off the tails of a sold-out book tour that took place around the motu earlier this year. Met with glowing reviews, NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women has already sold more than 3,500 copies since it came out in December 2021, and a reprint has been ordered to meet demand.

The book's author is photographer, journalist and NUKU creator Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua ki Te Ahiwaru me Te Ākitai, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao and the Cook Islands). NUKU is a creative social-impact storytelling movement profiling 100 Indigenous women through photography, audio podcast, video, live events, and now a self-published book.

Matata-Sipu says: “I feel really humbled that we have made it this far, especially as the only self-published pukapuka on the shortlist this year. I would like to acknowledge and honour the other Indigenous wāhine on this list: Serie Barford, Rebecca Reilly, Tayi Tibble, Whiti Hereaka, and the legendary Patricia Grace.

“I always knew that we had to self-publish this pukapuka as a considered act of mana motuhake. But it didn’t come without its challenges – many people questioned our ability to pull it off. I would like to mihi to Jeremy Sherlock, who supported and guided me through the self-publishing process and believed in the kaupapa.

“This morning I told my kōtiro Haeata te Kapua (aged four, who the book is dedicated to) that her pukapuka made the awards shortlist. She looked at me, gave me a thumbs up, and said ‘pretty cool, Māmā, ka pai’.”

Matata-Sipu is currently enrolled in Rumaki Reo, a te reo immersion diploma at Te Wānanga Takiura o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa. This week she announced her next NUKU project: a new podcast series.

She says: “Tōku Reo will be a ten-episode series speaking with Indigenous wāhine about their journeys of language reclamation. The first episode will be released next week.”

Matata-Sipu, who is also a co-founder of the SOUL Protect Ihumātao campaign, recently won the Arts & Culture section of the 2021 Women of Influence Awards. The winners of the national book awards will be announced on 11 May 2022.

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