Nuku: Stories of 100

Indigenous Women (QIANE +c, $65)

This book is a culmination of years of work put in by powerhouse writer, journalist, photographer and activist Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua ki Te Ahiwaru me Te Akitai, Waikato, Nga¯ puhi, Nga¯ ti Pikiao and the Cook Islands) and is based on a series of interviews conducted for her podcast, also named Nuku.

It showcases 100 indigenous women from Aotearoa, the Pacific Islands and even as far afield as Mexico through beautiful portraiture and first-person accounts of not only their work but their experiences merely existing as wa¯ hine taketake (indigenous women).

Matata-Sipu wrote the pukapuka (book) with her daughter in mind, wanting her and her generation to have access to stories and real-life role models they could relate to which could guide them and teach them their power as indigenous women.

I know it will be that for them, because as an indigenous woman who only began exploring and celebrating her indigeneity in recent years, it is everything I never really knew I needed.

Throughout Nuku, there is a focus on connection, tu¯ puna and te taiao as elements of self-care and caring for each other and, more importantly, there’s an unabashed celebration of us as wa¯ hine taketake.

For too long, we were taught that any type of confidence and self-hype was narcissistic and unbecoming. But Nuku is filled with women lauding their indigeneity, their strength and their gifts, and telling others that it’s okay to do the same.

– Reviewed by Siena Yates for Kete Books