Contributors
Meet the artists, writers, journalists, illustrators and more.
Sohaila Abdulali
Sohaila Abdulali is a native of Bombay and a transplanted native of New York. She writes for a living and also for fun. Her latest book is What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape, published worldwide in eight languages so far. She is the author of the novels The Madwoman of Jogare and Year of the Tiger, as well as four children’s books - the RangBibi and Langra series. Her short fiction and non-fiction has been published internationally, and it includes five years of a column on gender in Mint, an op-ed in the New York Times that broke readership records, and many pieces on topics ranging from criminal justice to malaria control to development issues. She writes grants, website copy, reports, stories, and anything else. She and her laptop have found themselves in unexpected places, from Samoa to Utrecht to Jaipur, pondering the world. Find Sohaila or contact her through www.sohailaink.com.
Simran Ahuja
Simran Ahuja is a journalist from India, with bylines in major Indian publications such as The Hindu, The New Indian Express and The Times of India. She is currently based in Germany, pursuing an MA under the Erasmus Mundus Journalism, Media and Globalisation program, where she will graduate with a double degree from Aarhus University, Denmark, and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. She is also a freelance writer and communications specialist.
Hinemoana Baker
Poet and performer Hinemoana Baker traces her Māori ancestry from tribes in both the North and South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Her poetry collections, original music albums and other sonic and written work have seen her on stages and pages in many countries around world for the last 25 years. in 2023, her most recent poetry collection, Funkhaus, was published in Germany as a bilingual volume (English and German, translated by Ulrike Almut Sandig) by Voland & Quist | AZUR Edition. More information at: www.hinemoana.co.nz
Sean-Joseph Choo
Sean-Joseph Takeo Kahāokalani Choo is a queer, multi-ethnic, multi-hyphenate Hawai’i-based artist. He’s the Lead Steward + Head Jester & Primary Arts Advocate of Kamamo House, an artist cultivation organization, theatre collective, and podcast.
Sean’s innovative and award-winning creative work include his plays otou-san, the isle is full of noises, and tourist shell shock and the numerous shows he devised with Honolulu Theatre for Youth including Stories of Oceania (lead actor, composer), “Da Holidays” episode of The HI Way (co-producer, co-writer, composer, and co-director), and Imi Ā Loaʻa (co-writer, performer, and composer) an augmented reality play.
Sean was honored to be one of three Pasifika commissioned artists as part of Weaving a Narrative, a workshop series created in collaboration with the Übersee Museum (Germany) and the Pacific Virtual Museum Project (New Zealand). He looks forward to continuing to foster pilina with other Pasefika peoples, cultivating talk story talanoas and sharing aloha wherever he goes.
Lisa Hilli
Lisa Hilli is an artist and supports museums in curating exhibitions that focus on Indigenous perspectives. She is also a member of "Powerhousegalang", an international Indigenous think tank of the Powerhouse Museum in Australia. Lisa Hilli is also a member of the Oceania working group of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, which promotes the representation of Pacific life in Australia.
Mahima Jain
Mahima Jain is a journalist covering the socio-economics of gender, health, and the environment. She uses the lens of inequity and injustice in systems for her features, long-form articles and podcasts. She has bylines in over two dozen global and Indian publications. She was a climate journalism fellow at the Constructive Institute, Aarhus University, Denmark in 2024. She previously held editorial positions at The Hindu Group and the London School of Economics. Mahima was a finalist for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award in 2021, and the Mumbai Press Club Redink Awards, and the Society of Publishers in Asia Awards. She's a two time UNFPA Laadli Award winner for her coverage of gender issues in India. You can see her work at www.mahimajain.in
Faiza Khan
Faiza Khan is a Former Consulting Editor at Bloomsbury UK and currently a freelance editor working with publishing houses including Faber & Faber, Penguin-Random House and HarperCollins, along with individual clients. She is also a founding director of Silk Road Slippers, designing and leading creative writing masterclasses in Marrakech and London with some of the world's most prestigious authors, featured in the Financial Times and The Times. https://www.silkroadslippers.com/masterclasses
Emelihter Kihleng
Emelihter Kihleng is from Pohnpei Island, Micronesia and was raised there, on Guam and in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. She is Curator Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and has held curatorial fellowships at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado and the MARKK - Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg. Poetry is Emeli's first love and her first collection, My Urohs, was published by Kahuaomānoa Press in 2008. She co-edited Indigenous Literatures of Micronesia (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2020) and has published poetry in various literary journals.
Hamish Kokaua
Stacey Kokaua and Hamish Kokaua are siblings who have Ngāti Arerā ō Rarotonga, Ngāti Pāmati and Pākehā heritage. They live with their kōpū tangata (family) in different locations along the Otago Peninsula. Stacey is a writer who has published essays and short stories and is currently completing a PhD in Pacific Literary Studies at the University of Otago. Hamish is a coder and produces music under Scapegoat Mercy. The Weaving the narrative project is their first collaborative project.
Stacey Kokaua
Stacey Kokaua (Ngāti Arerā ō Rarotonga, Ngāti Pāmati and Pākehā) is a writer who lives in Parihaumia in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her work has featured in Landfall, Pantograph Punch, Turbine | Kapohau and Tatou Publishing's Vā: Stories by Women of the Moana Anthology. She is currently working on a PhD in Pacific Literary Studies at the University of Otago that explores eco-critical themes in Cook Islands literature. Find her on Instagram @stacey.kokaua
Taputukura Raea
Taputukura Raea is of Cook Island descent from the beautiful islands of Mauke, Pamati, Rarotonga and Tahiti. She grew up in Paraparaumu in Wellington, New Zealand. She has a MSc in Marine Biology and previously worked with Māori and Pacific students to revitalise Mātauranga Māori and Pacific traditions in New Zealand schools. As the Engagement Manager at the National Library of New Zealand she is committed to building connections between Pacific communities who would like to share their stories and the GLAM sector that holds items of Pacific heritage.
Kia orana tatou katotoa i te aroa ma’ata o to tatou atu ko iesu mesia. Te karanga nei te para pore “Auraka taau kia riro i te ta’i kē”. Ko Taputukura tōku ingoa, E tamaine au na Caroline Marsters raua ko Mouauri Raea. Tōku Metua tane no Mauke, mai (Ngaputoru) Ngati Akatauira, Manihiki, Rakahanga. Ko Raea to ingoa kopu tangata Tōku Metua vaine, No Pamati, Rakahanga, Tongareva, Rarotonga, Ngati Pera, Ngati io, No Tahiti uānga Pomare ete uānga Dean. Ko Marsters to ingoa kopu tangata. E no’o ana au ki Raumati Beach. E angaanga ana au ki Poneke, roto ite National Library. Tōku taoanga Engagement manitia.
Natasha Ratuva
Natasha Ratuva (she/her) is a Taukei (Kadavu vasu i Bua) multi-disciplinary creative based on Ngāti Rākaiwhakairi whenua in Aotearoa, NZ. Natasha's practice spans the mediums of photography, digital art, poetry, gardening and Taukei traditional practices. Recently, Natasha has brought masi (indigenous Fijian barkcloth) to the forefront of her creative practice. Masi is deepy integral to Taukei culture and tradition, often present in ceremonies throughout a person's life. Natasha uses natural pigments and dyes to carefully hand paint traditional patterns and contemporary compositions onto masi to reimagine and expand expressions of her Taukei identity.
Radek Rudnicki
Audiovisual experience designer, sound and new media artist. He received international funding and awards and is regularly invited to conferences and art residencies. Radek collaborated with NASA’s GISS, SpaceBase, New Zealand and Stockholm Environment Institute on projects linking art, science and technology, which he presented in the USA, Europe and New Zealand. In his works he emphasises a varied range of digital art, including algorithmic composition, generative AI, free improvisation and re-contextualisation of traditional music using electronics. His projects were presented at events such as Tokyo Festival of Modular; Stockholm Tech Fest; New Frontiers, New Zealand; London Jazz Festival; elbPhilharmonie, Hamburg; Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw Poland.
www.radek-rudnicki.net
Kush Sethi
Kush Sethi is a gardener, forager and educator based out of New Delhi. Formally trained in Green Chemistry, he transitioned to urban ecology through field research in the Delhi Ridge forests. Inspired by ecosystem resiliency, he began creating a practice around understanding problems in manicured urban landscaping and finding wilder, self-sustainable approaches. Since 2017, he has designed and maintained over 20 private domestic gardens and curated nature-based walking excursions focused on participatory knowledge creation for travelers, corporates and domestic audiences.
Kush has experience in working on digital storytelling for art and culture projects, driven by city experts and supported by local government, on advocacy and engagement for urban biodiversity zones, historical sites, architecture, food and oral history. He now visits to teach 'gardening and ecology' modules at multiple Indian universities.
Patrick S. Thomsen
Patrick's profile will be following soon.
Catherine Wallace
Catherine Wallace is a writer and award-winning editor with a passion for the art and anthropology of journalism. In fellowships and in the newsrooms of several of Canada’s leading newspapers, she has explored the connecting force of storytelling and how to expand its power in cultural and urban spheres.
Zam Zadeh
Born in Isfahan (Iran), Zam Zadeh is a director, illustrator and storyteller. She has a background in speculative narration, visual arts, and digital storytelling. Her work has been shown in South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and Belgium.
In 2020, her virtual reality project based on the poetry of Omar Khayyam - Glad that I came, not sorry to depart, received a jury Prize at the Anima Festival.
See her website: https://www.zamzadeh.com/