TWO-SPIRIT: JOSHUA WHITEHEAD, ELLEN VAN NEERVEN, KŌTUKU TITIHUIA NUTTALL

Auckland Writers Festival

Two-Spirit is a pan-Indigenous expression (FNMI – First Nations, Metis and Inuit) from Turtle Island (North America) reflecting complex understandings of gender roles, spirituality and a long history of diversity. Two-Spirit writer Joshua Whitehead (Oji-Cree member of the Peguis First Nation) took the word Indigenous and braided it with the word queer to create a new kind of worlding for his poetry collection Full Metal Indigiqueer. Next came awardwinning novel Jonny Appleseed with a triumphant main character who finds glittering and gritty indigiqueer ways to live off the reserve. Also an essayist, Whitehead discusses Two-Spirit identity and other Indigenous interpretations of gender with non-binary Mununjali poet and memoirist Ellen van Neerven, author of PERSONAL SCORE: Sport. Culture. Identity; and Indigenous scholar Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, W- SÁNEĆ) whose hybrid collection Tauhou connects Aotearoa with Turtle Island. They speak with Māni Dunlop. First Nations series supported by the High Commission of Canada and the Australia Council for the Arts. SUN, 21 MAY 2023, 1:00pm – 2:00pm, Waitākere Room, Aotea Centre.