Leilani Tamu

Leilani Tamu is a New Zealand–born poet of Samoan and German descent, who grew up in Auckland. She is a poet, social commentator, Pacific historian, and former New Zealand diplomat. Her first book of poetry is The Art of Excavation (2014). In 2013, she was the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Prior to that, Tamu worked as a freelance writer, contributing regularly to Auckland’s Metro magazine. Her work has appeared in a range of Pacific anthologies and journals.