Q&A: Maria Samuela

Author photo by Ebony Lamb

We are so excited about Maria Samuela’s debut. Beats of the Pa‘u is a collection of stories about first- and second-generation Cook Islands New Zealanders living in 1950s to modern-day New Zealand. Maria answers our quick Q&A below.

1. How are you and what have you been up to lately?

I’m doing great, thanks! I’m on the last two weeks of seven weeks off from day job, and I’ve been enjoying the sun, reading some good things, watching heaps of movies and working on my new book project – a novel. The country’s just gone into red (traffic light setting), so it could be a good time to hunker down and knock out some more words on that first draft.

2. If you were working in a bookshop, how would you hand-sell your book to customers? What would you say to convince them to buy and read it?

This is a really good question! If I were an actual bookseller, I’d say it’s a powerful, poignant and funny collection of stories about first- and second-generation Cook Islands New Zealanders, spanning 1950s to modern day Aotearoa. And there’s nothing else like it!

(Yes, I just got that first bit from the blurb.)

In reality, I’d probably mumble something irrelevant and hype up somebody else’s book.

(This is why I don’t work in book sales and why I cherish our booksellers.)

3. What books (or other art/media) influenced you while writing this book, or generally in your life?

I wrote the first draft of Beats of the Pa‘u for an MA in Creative Writing so I was reading so much great writing at the time, including early drafts of Lonely Asian Woman by Sharon Lam, Unsheltered by Clare Moleta and Home Theatre by Anthony Lapwood – all classmates and super talented authors. I learnt something from everyone in that class, and I was introduced to some amazing writers: George Saunders, David Sedaris, Lorrie Moore, Tim Winton, Nam Le, Roxane Gay and so many more. I introduced my classmates to some writers I admire too, like Albert Wendt and Sia Figiel, and Courtney Sina Meredith and Gina Cole, who each had short story collections come out around that time.

I wrote Beats because I wanted to read it. Sons for the Return Home was the first book I’d read about Pasifika people living in New Zealand, and it had a huge impact on 17-year-old me. It showed me that people like me could be authors, and that there was an audience for our stories. But, most importantly, it showed me that our stories mattered, that we mattered, and how powerful it can be to see reflections of yourself, your experiences and your world represented in books.

A lot of the stories in Beats are set in Cannons Creek in Porirua, where I grew up. I wanted to show a side of the Creek that people outside that community don’t see. As a kid, I grew up surrounded by untold relatives, so the stories in my collection centre first- and second-generation Cook Islands New Zealanders. My memories of growing up in that community are a great influence on this book, but the stories and characters are fiction.

4. What good books have you read lately?

Like a lot of people, I have an ever-growing stack of good books to read, including the last three books I bought online from Good Books: Aljce in Therapy Land by Alice Tawhai, She’s a Killer by Kirsten McDougall and Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly. Next time I’ll buy the books in person!

But this year I’ve set myself a (fun) challenge to read at least one short story a day, starting with books or mags on my bookshelf or phone. The New Yorker; Vā: Stories by Women of the Moana; Sista, Stanap Strong!; and Zadie Smith’s Grand Union are some. And I’m constantly dipping into the two wonderful anthologies Middle Distance: Long Stories of Aotearoa New Zealand and A Game of Two Halves: The Best of Sport 2005 – 2019.

At the end of last year I finally got around to reading Janet Frame’s Owls Do Cry. I’d only read her autobiographies (memoirs?) before then, which I loved, and now I’m excited to read her entire body of work.

Buy Beats of the Pa‘u (Te Herenga Waka University Press NZ), $30