Thirty-five of the best short stories from the 1999 Huia Short Story Awards for Maori writers, judged by Phil Kawana and Trixie Te Arama Menzies.

This collection of short stories and novel extracts follows the 2007 Pikihuia Awards for Māori Writers.

Striding Both Worlds illuminates European influences in the fiction of Witi Ihimaera, Aotearoa New Zealand’s foremost Māori writer, in order to question the common interpretation of Māori writing as displaying a distinctive Māori world-view and literary style. Far from being discrete endogenous units, all cultures and literatures arise out of constant interaction, engagement, and even friction. Thus, Māori culture since the 1970s has been shaped by a long history of interaction with colonial British, Pakeha, and other postcolonial and indigenous cultures. Māori sovereignty and renaissance movements have harnessed the structures of European modernity, nation-building, and, more recently, Western global capitalism, transculturation, and diaspora – contexts which contest New Zealand bicultural identity, encouraging Māori to express their difference and self-sufficiency. Ihimaera’s fiction has been largely viewed as embodying the specific values of Māori renaissance and biculturalism. However, Ihimaera, in his techniques, modes, and themes, is indebted to a wider range of literary influences than national literary critique accounts for. In taking an international literary perspective, this book draws critical attention to little-known or disregarded aspects such as Ihimaera’s love of opera, the extravagance of his baroque lyricism, his exploration of fantasy, and his increasing interest in taking Māori into the global arena. In revealing a broad range of cultural and aesthetic influences and inter-references commonly seen as irrelevant to contemporary Māori literature, Striding Both Worlds argues for a hitherto frequently overlooked and undervalued depth and complexity to Ihimaera’s imaginary. The present study argues that an emphasis on difference tends to lose sight of fiction’s capacity to appreciate originality and individuality in the polyphony of its very form and function. In effect, literary negotiation of Māori sovereign space takes place in its forms rather than in its content: the uniqueness of Māori literature is found in the way it uses the common tools of literary fiction, including language, imagery, the text’s relationship to reality, and the function of characterization. By interpeting aspects of Ihimaera’s oeuvre for what they share with other literatures in English, Striding Both Worlds aims to present an additional, complementary approach to Māori, New Zealand, and postcolonial literary analysis.

Here are the best short stories from the Pikihuia Awards for Māori writers 2019 as judged by Scotty Morrison, Robyn Bargh, Tuehu Harris, Whiti Hereaka, Poia Rewi and Carol Hirschfeld. This competition, run by the Māori Literature Trust and Huia Publishers, is held every two years to promote Māori writers and their work. This year, the awards sought short fiction from first-time, emerging and published writers in te reo Māori and English. The competition attracts several hundred entries each year from writers of all ages and those who are starting out to seasoned authors. This collection of finalists’ fiction celebrates Māori writing, introduces new talent and gives an opportunity for Māori writers to shine. The stories are: Murray's Special Day by Tracey Andersen Tunnelling by Cassandra Barnett Botched by Marino-Moana Begman Para Pounamu by Pine Campbell Tangaroa Pūkanohi Nui! by Hineteahurangi Mere Nape Durie-Ngata Storked by Paipa Edmonds Tiakina! Tiakina! by Tiahomarama Fairhall Mumsy by Olivia Aroha Giles Rocket Ship Pyjamas and Plum Jam by Olivia Aroha Giles Kōkiri ki mua - Charge forward! by K M Harris My Three Friends at School by Josh Hema The Pledge by Nadine Anne Hura Dust by Kelly Joseph The School of Life by Lauren Keenan Tina's Coming on Tuesday by Lauren Keenan Ko te Ao tō Marae by Hēmi Kelly Just Holden Together by Colleen Maria Lenihan One of the Good Ones by Moira Lomas Aunty's Teeth by Annette Morehu Te Kai a te Rangatira, he Mahi by Zeb Nicklin Te Kurī Hīroki o te Āporo Nui by Zeb Nicklin The Guises of Death Kahuru Pumipi The Bartender by Michelle Rahurahu Scott White Sheep by Penny Smits Whakaurupā Taku Aroha by Amiria Stirling No te uku - From the Clay by Bronwyn Te Koeti

This overview about publishing Indigenous literature in Australia from the mid-1990s to 2000 includes broader issues that writers need to consider such as engaging with readers and reviewers. Although changes have been made since 2000, the issues identified in this book remain current and to a large extent unresolved.

Tropes and Territories demonstrates how current debates in postcolonial criticism bear on the reading, writing, and status of short fiction. These debates, which hinge on competing definitions of "trope" (motif vs rhetorical turn) and "territory" (political or aesthetic), lead to studies of space, place, influence, and writing and reading practices across cultural divides. The essays also explore the character of diasporic writing, the cultural significance of oral tale-telling, and interconnections between socio/political issues and strategies of style.

Diasporic writing simultaneously asserts a sense of belonging and expresses a sense of being 'ethnic' in a society of immigration. The essays in this volume explore how contemporary diasporic writers in English use their works to mediate this dissonance and seek to work through the ethical, political, and personal affiliations of diasporic identities and subjectivities. The essays call for a remapping of post-colonial literatures and a reevaluation of the Anglophone literary canon by including post-colonial diasporic literary discourses. Demonstrating that an intercultural dialogue and constant cultural brokering are a must in our post-colonial world, this volume is a valuable contribution to the ongoing discourse on post-colonial diasporic literatures and identities.