Kua Tau: A Life in Stories by Tainui Stephens is out now!
From the beginning, Tainui Stephens has been finding stories – in people, in the land, and in the shifting shape of Māori life in Aotearoa. Alongside a career in filmmaking, broadcasting and cultural advocacy, he has been finding out about himself. In Kua Tau, he fills a kete with his best writing on these subjects, drawn from his much-loved essays for the online magazine E-Tangata, travelling through reo and tikanga, identity, leadership, racism, grief and joy.
Kua Tau will be launched on the evening of Thursday 1 October at Māoriland Hub in Otaki – home to the internationally respected film festival Stephens helped found alongside his wife and fellow filmmaker, Libby Hakaraia.
Warm, direct and deeply grounded, Kua Tau is a rare first-person account by an Indigenous filmmaker, and of the rich and extraordinary life that shapes his work.
Nau mai, hou mai ki roto i te whare kōrero.