• Comment: Obviously promotional, certainly not written like an encyclopedic biography, and lacking in secondary sources. Drmies (talk) 01:51, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

Arihia Latham. Image by Amber-Jayne Bain.

Arihia Latham (born in 1980) is a writer, rongoā practitoner, cultural and sustainabilty advisor.

Life and career

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Latham was born in Wellington tin 1980 to Gerry Te Kapa Coates and Sally Kārito Latham and has Māori ancestry from Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe and Waitaha.

As a child, Latham went through kohanga reo and studied te reo Māori, arts and science through school and started writing poetry and fiction as a teenager. She was mentored in matauranga and rongoā by Mihipeka Edwards, Tiahuia Gray and Rakāto Te Rangiita.

Latham studied rongoā and completed a Bachelor of Health Science in complementary medicine in 2002.

Latham was first published in 2007 with her short story Fly Away Home, published by Huia Publishers as part of the Pikihuia Awards and recorded for RNZ. Again in 2013 her novel extract Ahi Kā was runner up in the Pikihiuia Awards and published.

In 2023 her first collection of poetry Birdspeak was published by Anahera Press. Tru Paraha states in her review for New Zealand Review of Books 'The book is undoubtedly a ‘gathering of entities’ haloed by a constellation of tīpuna, mentors, colleagues, whanauka, and friends whose support is acknowledged by the author. Endorsements for this first collection feel earned. An ecologically minded song of survival, Birdspeak should find an eager readership across generations.'[1][2][3]

Latham's work has been anthologised widely, in Ōrongohau Best New Zealand poems (2023), Te Awa o Kupu (Penguin Random House NZ), Rapture (AUP), Flora (Te Papa Press) and Koe (Otago University Press).

Latham has been the arts columnist for The Post, and responded to many artists through essays, interviews and poetry. Her poetic film Takaroa screened on the water for Mana Moana as part of Matariki 2024.

References

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  1. ^ Paraha, Tru (2023-07-27). "Birdspeak by Arihia Latham". Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  2. ^ Solly, Ruby (2023-05-28). "Between 'Birdspeak' and 'The Artist': Arihia Latham and Ruby Solly in conversation". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  3. ^ "Birdspeak - takahē". 2023-10-24. Retrieved 2024-09-06.