Quick Facts
Biography
Tusiata Avia (born 1966) is a New Zealand page and performance poet born to a Samoan father and Palagi (New Zealand European) mother. Her poetry explores Pacifica and cross-cultural themes, as well as the borders between traditional and contemporary life, and between place and the self.
She has toured both nationally and internationally performing her solo show Wild Dogs Under My Skirt which premiered at the 2002 Dunedin Fringe Festival.
Her first book of poetry, also titled Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, was published by Victoria University Press in 2004.
Avia has also written the children's books Mele and the Fofo (2004) and The Song (2002).
Avia won the 2005 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency at the University of Hawaii.
In 2006 Avia was shortlisted for the Prize in Modern Letters.
Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals such as Takahe, Sport and Turbine.
She currently works as a Lecturer at the Otara Campus of the Manukau Institute of Technology.