If you want to get in touch with the Hone Tuwhare Trust, please email tuwharetrust@gmail.com
All copyright and publishing rights for Hone Tuwhare poems are held by Rob Tuwhare on behalf of the Estate of Hone Tuwhare. For permission to reprint, perform, or display Hone’s work please email HoneTuwharePoetry@gmail.com
This last weekend the Tuwhare Trust was invited by the University of Otago to help celebrate 60 years of the Robert Burns Fellowship. Hone was twice a Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago (1969 and 1974); he was also a Hocken Fellow at the University of Otago in 1983.
The celebrations started at the Otago University’s English Department with the launch of their Stair Poems by Hone Tuwhare and Ruth Dallas.
The Tuwhare Trust was also invited to speak at the “Tribute to Absent Fellows” presentation at Dunedin Public Art Gallery with Rob Tuwhare and Jeanette Wikaira representing Hone Tuwhare. Moving tributes and readings celebrated the lives and writing of seventeen poets and authors. Reading a tribute to Hone Tuwhare, Rob read “Friend” and Jeanette read “Sea Call/Te Karanga a Tangaroa” in the Te Reo Maori version translated by Selwyn Murupaenga. It was a beautiful way to celebrate absent friends and was an emotionally charged afternoon.
Nga mihi mahana.
Photo Credits:
1. Hone Tuwhare’s Burns Fellow photograph in the University of Otago’s Central Library.
2. Hone Tuwhare’s “Hotere” poem on the stairs of the English Department, University of Otago.
3. Rob Tuwhare playing ‘Friend’.
4. Jeanette Wikaira and Rob Tuwhare with Victor Dibble and Sheldon Dibble at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery after the Tribute to Absent Fellows presentation.
Tuwhare Trustee Stan Scott was on location in the South Island with presenter George Clark last week. The star of Restoration Man and George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces is in New Zealand filming an online series with Mitre 10 about New Zealanders getting creative in living spaces with a can-do kiwi attitude. Tuwhare Trustees Stan Scott and Rob Tuwhare took George to visit Hone’s crib in Kaka Point.
Clark was blown away by his visit to Hone’s crib saying, ‘It’s incredible that Hone wrote so many amazing poems in a tiny space, you can tell he was anchored to the landscape in his writings, inspired by being close to the sea and seeing the starts at night. Hone’s crib makes you realise that small space projects aren’t just about the architecture or the building.’ Clark recited Hone Tuwhare poetry at the crib, saying it was a highlight of his time in the South Island.
Clark is in Aotearoa, filming stories about Kiwis doing amazing things in small spaces. His stories will be shown on Mitre 10’s online TV channel. Mitre 10 is partnering with the Hone Tuwhare Charitable Trust in the restoration of Hone’s crib at Kaka Point.
The Tuwhare Trust is about to get a $100,000 grant from the Environment and Heritage Lottery Committee to restore Hone’s crib. The restoration work will allow the crib to be used as a residence for writers and artists — in what will be the first time a residency will be established in the home and name of a Maori writer.
The trust is delighted that we can preserve Hone’s former home as a vital first step in developing a new writers’ and artists residency. It’s been a few years of hard work by the Trust to raise the funds to fully restore Hone’s crib, but we are now in a position to continue on full steam ahead.
As always, we are so grateful for the financial support that allows us to do this very important work. Hone would be so chuffed, he would definitely be singing a waiata about this great news.
The generosity of a Mitre10 charity auction will contribute towards the restoration of Hone Tuwhare’s crib.
The money raised will be used to restore Hone’s crib in Kaka Point and takes the Trust a significant step toward achieving its goal of establishing the first creative residency in the home and name of a Maori writer and creative.
“The Trust is very grateful for the generosity of Mitre 10, as it will enable us to undertake much needed repairs and maintenance on Hone’s crib. Mitre 10’s commitment to building is a good fit with the Trust’s commitment to building a sustainable creative future for New Zealand.”
The auction is a regular feature of the annual Mitre 10 Awards Night, which was held at the Langham Hotel in Auckland on 23 July 2015 following a 2‑day trade expo.
This is a big milestone for the Tuwhare Trust, and we are so very thankful for the support.