Slowing The Sun

Description

'Hope is a shovel and will give you blisters'

Overwhelmed and often unmoved by the scientific and political jargon of climate change, Nadine Hura sets out to find a language to connect more deeply to the environmental crisis. But what begins as a journalistic quest takes an abrupt and introspective turn following the death of her brother.

In the midst of grief, Hura works through science, pūrākau, poetry and back again. Seeking to understand climate change in relation to whenua and people, she asks: how should we respond to what has been lost? Her many-sided essays explore environmental degradation, social disconnection and Indigenous reclamation, insisting that any meaningful response must be grounded in Te Tiriti and anti-colonialism.

Slowing the Sun is a karanga to those who have passed on, as well as to the living, to hold on to ancestral knowledge for future generations.

Reviews

'Nadine’s writing can make us feel seen, less alone, more hopeful, more enlightened. He kaiwhakairo i te kupu, he­kaituhi­ ngā kokonga ngākau – a carver of words, a ­writer ­for all corners of the heart.' — Stacey Morrison (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa, Pākehā)

Author description

Nadine Hura (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is a writer whose work connects literature, social policy and environmental justice. Her work with Māori communities on climate research for the Deep South National Science Challenge led to many of the essays in Slowing the Sun. She has written extensively for The Spinoff , E-Tangata and other platforms. Hura, a Māmā, poet and essayist, lives in Titahi Bay, Wellington, while pursuing her writing and advocacy for the protection of Papatūānuku and revitalisation of matauranga Māori.