Victoria University of Wellington

Dr Lynne Russell works as a Senior Research Fellow - Maori Health with the Health Services Research Centre (HSRC) at Victoria University of Wellington. Much of her professional and academic work has centred around the Indigenous knowledge and healing practices used in recovery from trauma associated with mental distress, suicide loss and self-harm. She describes herself as an writer, activist and public speaker stirred by cultural resilience, social justice, Indigenous and LGBTI rights, and the amplification of voices more readily silenced in society.

David is the Programme Director - First Year Design at the School of Design. He gained his qualification for Victoria University of Wellington

Mike is a lecturer at Te Kawa a Māui, where he teaches courses on Māori language and customs.

Dr Tina Makereti has a PhD and Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters. She is a novelist, essayist, curator and short fiction writer. Her first novel, Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings (Vintage, 2014) has been described as a New Zealand classic and 'a remarkable first [book that] spans generations of Moriori, Māori and Pākehā descendants as they grapple with a legacy of pacifism, violent domination and cross-cultural dilemmas.' It was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2016 and won the 2014 Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Award for Fiction.