North Shore-based Alan Duff has released his latest book 'A Conversation with My Country (Where we’ve come from. Where we can go)', nearly 30 years since his novel 'Once Were Warriors' shot him into the literary global spotlight.
His new book looks at his own upbringing: child sexual abuse, violence and poverty; the state of Mäoridom today; and examines why tikanga Mäori won’t reduce incarceration rates and what prisoners being released need as a ‘head start’. Duff is also upbeat about New Zealand’s cultural revival since he left for France 10 years ago, saying some things are moving positively. The book, published by Penguin, is available at all good booksellers. Channel Magazine talked to Alan after the launch of the new book.
Channel Magazine: What inspired you to write 'A Conversation with My Country'?
Alan Duff: Inspiration is not what motivates most writers. Just having something to say.
CM: Why is it as important a book as 'Once Were Warriors' was when it was published in 1990?
AD: It’s not my place to rank the book's importance. But I do think it says a few important things. And certainly brushing aside euphemisms and politically correct talk means we can get to the heart of problems, not least those that affect so many Māori.
CM: Have you found 2019 New Zealand more open to your messages?
AD: Yes, the country is more receptive to what I have to say. I think they get it now that I am not trumpeting the messenger – only the message. The messenger is not important and never was. But his life experiences most surely are, as they can be applied to deeper thinking on the issues. The few Māori who have said they read the book loved it. That pleases me.
CM: How have you found New Zealand since moving back from France?
AD: New Zealand has changed quite drastically in the nearly ten years I lived in France. And though I did return several times a year to visit schools on our Duffy Books literacy programme, I must have missed the changes. For on our return, I suddenly realised the entire attitude to Māori has changed for the better. The [Waitangi] settlements have just about all been turned into business fortunes. Māori are more confident, though there is a sector with still a long way to go.
CM: What is your next project?
AD: There’s always something on the go, but not a novel. I do love the education field and believe I have something to contribute there.
CM: What message do you have for Prime Minister Ardern about the state of the country?
AD: What would I tell Jacinda Ardern? Prime Minister, throw money at well-thought-out, common-sense solutions – not shower the problem in money, as it only gets spent in the wrong places and invariably makes a handful richer while the poor who suffer all the problems continue to struggle. And you need to listen to a broader range of people, not least business and organisations like ours that have been involved at flax-roots level since you, Jacinda, were aged 13. We know a lot of people with a heap more to offer than the narrow range of chosen ones your government consults with. Not academics, or favoured consultants, or the same old Māori leaders, or old white men and women. Just ordinary good folk with some real solutions.
