Our sixth writer-in-residence for the year; Gina, is of Fijian, Scottish and Welsh descent. She is the author of Black Ice Matter, which won Best First Book of Fiction at the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her fiction was anthologised in Black Marks on the White Page, and Home: New Writing. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including takahē, JAAM, Express Magazine, Span, Landfall, Geometry, The Three Lamps, and Ora Nui. She is a past participant in the Auckland Writers Festival, and the Same Same But Different LGBTQI+ Festival. She is a qualified lawyer and practised law for many years. She has an LLB (Hons) and an MJur from the University of Auckland. She is an Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa and was 2018 Writer in Residence at the Island Institute in Sitka, Alaska. She has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland and a PhD in Creative Writing from Massey University on the topic of Indigenous science fiction and Pasifikafuturism.
Gina’s residency project is writing a first draft of a Pasifikafuturist science fiction novel. This work builds on her first two books; Black Ice Matter, an award winning collection of Pasifika inspired short fiction; and Na Viro, a Pasifikafuturist science fiction novel completed as part of her PhD studies in creative writing and now on its way to being published.
This new work will be the second book in a science fiction trilogy. The first book in the trilogy is Na Viro (currently in the process of being published by Huia Publishers). The new work is set in the future Tamaki Makaurau and in space.