Anne-Marie Te Whiu is an Australian-born Māori who belongs to the Te Rarawa iwi in Hokianga, Aotearoa NZ. She lives on unceded Wangal Country. She is freelance a cultural producer, writer, editor and weaver. Her forthcoming debut poetry collection titled Mettle will be published by University of Queensland Press in 2025.
This month, Anne-Marie is running a workshop that explores the value of nurturing and drawing on creative pursuits that sit alongside your poetry writing practice. Think: photography, pottery, knitting, painting, gardening, jewellery making, lino cutting or something else and how the act of making/creating/crafting/cooking/doing can inform your poetry or lead to poetic collaboration. Learn more about Finding Poetry in Other Creative Pursuits here.
Keep reading to find out Anne-Marie’s take on self-doubt, who she takes inspiration from, the role books have played in her life and more.
Tell us more about your latest project and what inspired you to write it.
My latest project is the release of my debut poetry collection titled Mettle which is to be published with University of Queensland Press in April 2025. It’s been a long time coming – about 7 years in the writingimaginingrewritingeditingwriting. What inspired me to write it were multiple threads ranging from remembering how courageous I was as a kid, seeing family members who have struggled with different types of illnesses and challenges throughout their lives as well as a deep learning and listening to my tupuna (ancestors) who are the bedrock of my inspiration.
What role have books played in your life?
A pivotal role. I escaped into books as a child. I especially loved writing in my diary, which I still do today. I distinctly remember that feeling of undoing the little padlock on my mini-diary and flicking the pages over to a fresh one. The blank page was mine – a space where I could pour my truest self with stories and memories and big and small details of each day. Thankfully Mum and Dad were big readers, so books were very much a part of childhood. Mum was brilliant on the piano as well and I loved flicking through all of her piano sheet music and scanning over all the marks on the page. I loved maps as well. As an adult, I’ve moved rental/homes more times than I can count, and one thing that has always moved with me have been my books – milk crates and milk crates of books. They are my oldest and newest friends.
Whose writing do you admire?
Any writer that has the ability to write freely – to write from their place of truth. There are too many to list here, but off the top of my head I’d say Joy Harjo, Tusiata Avia, Alison Whittaker, Eve L. Ewing, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Tony Birch, Natalie Harkin…I could honestly go on and on and on.
Self-doubt seems to be part of being a writer. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to another writer about how to overcome it?
Know that self-doubt is a part of the deal of being a writer. But we also know that self-doubt is a part of any artistic practice we may choose to embark on. My advice would be to look at ways of alchemising the doubt and transforming that energy into a sense of play or trial and error. Try and remove pressure from the process and if possible, write collaboratively.
What does your writing process and routine look like?
My writing process is one anchored in flexibility and a combination of being responsive and leaning into known, tried and true rituals that help me get to the page. I’m not one for routine – that’s a personality thing I think, and I embrace that. What is fairly routine about my practice however is that I tend to write early, first thing in the morning and late at night. I try to book-end my days with writing and or reading, when my mind is fresh and then towards the evening, more reflective.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re currently working on?
I’m working on a few projects, but the one that I’m most passionate about is around archival work. I won’t say any more than that at this stage! I’ve been working on this one in parallel with Mettle since about 2018, but I paused the work for a couple of years as the Mettle manuscript pulled me in closer and required more from me. Now I’m able to return to this project which is a ‘writing back to the archives’ process. It’s both a very personal project as well as one which examines and interrogates systems of oppression, in particular capital punishment laws of the 1950’s in Aotearoa.
What are you hoping participants of your workshop will take with them?
First and foremost, I hope we build a community of poetically driven writers within the workshop and we all take away each other’s email addresses so we can continue to support each other’s writing/projects etc. post-workshop. Following this, I hope participants take away some practical tools that they can adapt to their own practices, a sense of joy, connection and motivation to keep writing poetry. Now, more than ever, poets need to be writing, in solidarity and with courage.
Places are still available for Anne-Marie’s workshop Finding Poetry in Other Creative Pursuits. Members of Writers Victoria receive up to 37% off the full price of all clinics, workshops, seminars and courses. Writers experiencing financial and social barriers to developing their skills are encouraged to apply to The Writers Victoria Fund for subsidised attendance at workshops and clinics.