{"title":"Midden Rahurahu","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn11.bigcommerce.com\/s-58zklai\/images\/stencil\/original\/image-manager\/michelle-rahurahu-colour-2-web-thwup-ebony-lamb-photographer-2024-7.jpg?t=1721957966\" alt=\"Collection image\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAuthor photo: Ebony Lamb\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMidden Rahurahu\u003c\/strong\u003e (Ngaati Rahurahu, Ngaati Tahu-Ngaati Whaoa) is a writer who was raised by taangata turi. They were a co-editor of Te Rito o te Harakeke, an anthology of Maaori voices for Ihumaatao. They have a Masters in Creative Writing from the IIML, where they won the Modern Letters Fiction Prize. Midden was shortlisted for the Michael Gifkins Prize for Poorhara, their first novel, published in 2024 by Te Herenga Waka University Press. In 2025 Poorhara won the Hubert Church Prize for Best First Book at the Ockham NZ Book Awards.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"poorhara","title":"Poorhara","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003ca style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/mebooks.co.nz\/poorhara-ebook\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn11.bigcommerce.com\/s-58zklai\/product_images\/uploaded_images\/blobid0.png?t=1619991380\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"50\" align=\"right\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Hubert Church Prize for Best First Book at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003eERIN can hear the whaanau whispering, and they won’t tell her why. She’s ditched school to help her aunty clean houses—even though she has a full-time job looking after all the moko. But no one cares, and soon she will be picked clean, like the bones in her maamaa’s bedroom.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003eSTAR is home for the first time in years, and he’s worn the same clothes for days. Everything feels unfamiliar: the karakia, his nephews, the house that he grew up in. He’s too scared to tell his family that he’s bombing back at uni. And the past is an affliction, a gently rising tide.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003eIt is 178 years after colonisation. Together, the cousins escape. Free-wheeling across the countryside in a car without a warrant, they cast their net widely. Their family mythologies, heartaches and rifts will surface, and amidst them the glint of possibility: a return to the whenua where it all began.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003eA tragicomedy set in the confines of a 1994 Daihatsu Mira, \u003cem\u003ePoorhara\u003c\/em\u003e is a journey of epic proportions—a poignant, expansive and darkly funny first novel written by a true poorhara.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\" style=\"text-overflow: unset;\"\u003e'\u003cem\u003ePoorhara\u003c\/em\u003e is a road trip novel unlike any other. Two cousins, Erin and Star, pile into a 1994 Daihatsu Mira in a desperate bid to escape the suffocation of racism and poverty, the rigid expectations of whānau, and the trajectory of their own pasts. We were impressed by the urgency of Rahurahu's tragicomic crises and the clarity of her depiction of colonialism, a presence in the book as incessant and rotten as Star’s relentless toothache.' —Judges' comments, 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\" style=\"text-overflow: unset;\"\u003e‘This is a novel to get excited about, a compulsive, absorbing, cinematic work of beauty.’ —Amber French, \u003cem\u003eNorth \u0026amp; South\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e'Rahurahu's book \u003cem\u003ePoorhara\u003c\/em\u003e blew me away.' —Miriama Kamo,\u003cem\u003e NZ Herald\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: helvetica neue,helvetica,arial,verdana,sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan dir=\"ltr\" class=\"a ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u ui-provider v w x y z\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Poorhara\u003c\/em\u003e is a hilarious and heartbreaking debut with characters so stunningly well-realised they will walk into your dreams at night. It’s a hero's journey with no easy answers – just harsh, furious life with all the pain, the anger and the beauty we can barely hold in or hold together. Rahurahu is a genius.' —essa may ranapiri\u003c\/span\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eransack\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eechidna\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003cspan dir=\"ltr\" class=\"a ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u ui-provider v w x y z\"\u003e'Rahurahu takes what could otherwise be a heavy story told in a depressing world, and gives it the grace and love that it deserves. . . . \u003c\/span\u003eIn just three hundred pages, following two cousins in a car, Rahurahu tells the story of a nation in conflict, a deeply disparate society, and a family surviving through it. It is as honest a portrait of Aotearoa as I’ve read all year, and I’m likely to for many years.' —Sam Brooks, \u003cem\u003eDramatic Pause\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMidden Rahurahu\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e (Ngaati Rahurahu, Ngaati Tahu-Ngaati Whaoa) is a writer who was raised by taangata turi. They were a co-editor of \u003cem\u003eTe Rito o te Harakeke\u003c\/em\u003e, an anthology of Maaori voices for Ihumaatao. Midden has a Masters in Creative Writing from the IIML, where they won the Modern Letters Fiction Prize, and they were shortlisted for the Michael Gifkins Prize for \u003cem\u003ePoorhara\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003ePoorhara\u003c\/em\u003e won the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"\u003eCover design: Todd Atticus\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Te Herenga Waka University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50427218657591,"sku":"9781776921287","price":38.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0928\/5048\/7607\/files\/9781776921287_Poorhara_RGB__32134_8d7ba0ed-4d10-4b0b-9dd7-c22ee9829e8f.jpg?v=1752013366"}],"url":"https:\/\/teherengawakapress.co.nz\/collections\/midden-rahurahu.oembed","provider":"Te Herenga Waka University Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}