Kia ora folks,

This month has been NUTS! Let me tell you all about it in this bumper issue full of photos (for once!)...

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Snippet

From the poem I am never going to space, first performed at Poho-o-Rāwiri Marae, Gisborne, Aotearoa 11/10/2025, and soon to be published(!)

... (there's more, but you'll have to wait for the publication to read it 😉 )

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The writing this month

• I worked on the third draft of my vampire romance novella Marcie and submitted it to the good folks at Neon Hemlock, purveyors of fine queer fiction. I am a big fan. It feels a little gutsy to dare to even suggest that my work might have a place with them, but as the apocryphal 'they' say, you have to be in it to win it.
• First drafting continues on my current novel project. It's good to be in the swing of things. Plus some friends of mine invited me to write something a little silly, for private fun and entertainment, so that's been really healing for me, to take some pressure off.
• All the travelling I did this month led to a glut of poetry. Something of a pattern with me; I literally cannot go on a plane without writing a poem about it. This month it was all driving, but nevertheless I was inspired again and again. Also sitting in panels, listening to people talk: that made connections ignite. So maybe some of that will come out for public consumption at some point.
• I submitted a poem to an anthology related to the Hui I attended - more on that below. I ended up going in a completely different direction than I thought I would, so I'm still looking for a home for Spirit of Discovery, which I previewed a snippet of last month. I submitted a different short story as a reprint to them and they said they felt it wasn't well-formed enough. Which really, just goes to show you how subjective this business of art is, because I have in fact already been paid for that story once before, so 🤷‍♀️ all good!

The Creative Currents Book Launch

The first weekend of October, I was invited down to Tokoroa to attend the launch of The Creative Currents Volume One (!! Volume two when??). This was a venture by seventeen-year-old author Rutendo Shadaya to give space to her fellow teen writers living in South Waikato. I helped her judge the entries back in April and May. The launch party was huge, like over a hundred people at least (I know, I know, there will be some authors reading that and weeping with jealousy. Probably future me, too 😭). The community really came out for the effort, and celebrated her and the kids. It's honestly kinda mind-blowing, cos she was also featured in TIME Magazine (?!?!). But all in all I'm just so happy she asked me to help with this project. Mad impressed by her.

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Ngā Kaituhi Māori Hui (The Māori Writers' Hui)

The second weekend of October and the surrounding days were taken up travelling to Gisborne and attending the third innaugural Ngā Kaituhi Māori Hui, which is like a workshop/festival/retreat all rolled into one.

It was a long drive: 9 hours, not the 6.5 that Google Maps told me! So many roadworks. But there were many beautiful sights to see, including a causeway over a harbour in Tauranga where the water was like glass; then pictured below, the main warehouse of Xanadu Book Exchange; and the Waioeka Gorge, which inspired me to much poetry! I arrived just in time at my accomodation to unpack before the powhiri (approx: welcoming ceremony). I was sharing said accomodations with Steph Julian, my fellow Te Papa Tupu programme alum (forgotten/don't know what Te Papa Tupu is? see here). It was a cute little cottage which I absolutely should have taken pictures of, but did I? No, I did not.

There were faces old and new to be met, and such manaakitanga (approx: hospitality, a welcome feeling) within the marae (approx: the courtyard, but here I use the colloquial meaning of the complex of buildings around said courtyard, including the meeting house, feast hall etc.). I learnt so much from the sessions over the four days. Honestly I think I'm still processing a lot of it. I also would flick over to my poetry notebook during the sessions, and jot little phrases down all the time, because it was all so inspiring on that level too. Let's see, what are some highlights of my time:

• Catching up with my friend Atakohu Middleton, and getting to hear about her efforts to write short stories in te reo Māori for adults, to fill the big gap in material for people learning the language later in life! Maybe one day I can take the plunge into properly learning my reo and joining her 🤞
• Meeting Paula Morris, impressively intimidating novelist and associate professor amongst many other hats. She did many talks over the course of the hui and I enjoyed getting to know her opinions on things (even if it made me feel like I never ever want her to read anything I write because eeeek, the weight of her judgement 😂)
• Connecting with other people of all ages around shared writing exercises
• I performed a poem in front of Witi Ihimaera 😱 (someone you might have heard of if you're not in NZ, the author of Whale Rider). It was called 'I am never going to space' (snippeted above!) and it has since been accepted into the hui anthology. Looking forward to telling you when that's available. I'd also really like to film it. I have ideas. Let's see if I have the time and means to execute them.
• Steph and I had the opportunity to hang out with Tania Roxborogh, author of the Charlie Tangaroa series which is doing really well at the moment (foreign translations and a screen adaptation, omg!). But the thing that will always be super special to us about Tania on a personal level is that she was one of the mentors for Te Papa Tupu, and was in fact the judge who selected us all for the programme in the first place. So we literally would not have been there, together as friends and having gone on this big journey on our craft together, without her. We had lunch with her at the cafe where she had the original moment of inspiration for Charlie (though she did not spring that on us until we were leaving after our meal!), and then went shopping at some very cool local stores. Then on the final day after the hui wrapped, we went on a day trip north with her to Tolaga Bay/Uawa, which is Charlie Tangaroa's hometown. I actually remembered to get photos here, at long last! That was really special and I would love to be able to go on more little roadtrips with other authors to the places that inspired them.
• And it was such a pleasure to share the little cottage with Steph. We never got in one another’s way or annoyed each other (so far as I know), which, like, squad goals, amirite? I was also reading her middle-grade manuscript at the time, so she got to hear me giggle and snort and gasp at every turn. Plus we critiqued each other’s pieces for submission, and binged the NZ musical comedy series Happiness. Good times, would do again!

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Kupu Māori Writers Festival

The following weekend I went for just one day down to Rotorua for Kupu Māori Writers Festival. Busy month for us kaituhi Māori! I took some lovely pictures of scenery but forgot to get any of people (though the photographers at the event snapped me a couple of times). I once again got to bask in the learning and the inspiration. I also got to catch up with another Te Papa Tupu alum, Taryn Baker. We had great fun chatting and meeting more people who hitherto have only been names on the page, such as Dr Hinemoa Elder, Emma Hislop, and I met my TPT mentor Lauren Keenan's editor from Penguin! Small world. And what a treat, to go to the gala night. Great food and amazing entertainment at Whakarewarewa. Highly recommend going there if you're visiting NZ.
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AQWA party and Boosted Launch

It never stops, does it. The very next day I went to author Jamie Sands's second-hand bookshop Blue Hills Books for a little party in the afternoon. We celebrated everyone getting accepted into the anthology (link back here if you don't know what I'm talking about) and took some videos to use for our Boosted campaign.

Speaking of which...

You're getting a head start on this. Tomorrow, the Boosted fundraiser page goes live here but you can access it now if you want to be a seed donor before it's made public. We're asking for help making the last NZ$1500 we need to print and launch this anthology, so that when we sell it the proceeds can go straight to our chosen charity, OutLine Aotearoa (instead of having to repay ourselves for the costs). Just FYI though, this is not like a kickstarter. It's a donation-only site, and legally we cannot offer rewards through them. So the only reward is supporting a handful of queer authors in Auckland, New Zealand, to get their work out to those who want and need it.

Of course, we can talk more at the end of February about throwing money at the anthology to actually get the anthology in return 😉 Patience, pet.

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Support a brave woman in science - and get my award-winning computer game in return!

This month, you have the opportunity to back science and creativity in one go, over here: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/8521-support-dr-siouxsie-after-she-supported-us

Who is Dr Siouxsie Wiles? She explains her story in video and text at the link above, but let me quickly explain for those out of the country: she is an academic and science communicator who shot to national celebrity during the COVID-19 lockdowns here in NZ. Because of her sudden newfound fame and *gestures wildly at the state of the world*, things got pretty crazy and she got all sorts of nasty threats. Her workplace did not do enough to protect her. She won her case against them for their failures, but this has left her with some hefty legal bills.

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s fair! She tried to do the morally right thing, educating NZ about the pandemic, and she has had terrible things happen to her in return.

Well, no more! Let’s get behind Dr Siouxsie. I’ve offered her infinite copies of my award-winning PC game Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary for backers. I made this game during the first lockdown here in NZ, so to me it’s a work that will forever be tied to that time. If you go into the PledgeMe campaign link above, you’ll find my game available at the NZ$30 tier “Ornithinimicrobium”, along with some great science texts which you will receive at the end of the campaign.

(And of course there are all sorts of other excellent tiers too! It doesn't have to be my tier, unless you want...)

On the blog this month

I have done another Lore Drop, this time about my sapphic vampire romance novella Marcie. Check it out here if you want the behind-the-scenes on how she just popped into my head one day and demanded to be written.

What's coming up next month?

• The Boosted campaign for the anthology launches tomorrow, as I just said. Stay tuned on that page for lots of profiles and snippets from our authors. (I'm sure if you follow me on socials, you're going to see a bunch of this throughout November, sorry and please don't hate me in advance!)
• I continue with drafting, and take a tiny little break from revision for a bit. I need it. Also it's November, and if you're an ex-NaNoWriMo adherent like me, you'll maybe understand how the unavoidable urge to word-vomit has come upon me. 'Tis the season.
• Got a fun little flash fiction opportunity to submit to that is a little bit secret secret right now! More on that later, probably in December's newsletter.

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That's all for now. I hope you get what you need out of November 💖✌️

Arohanui,

Claire Hiria

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