Selina Tusitala Marsh

Selina Tusitala Marsh was the first person of Pasifika descent (Sāmoan, Tuvaluan, English, and French) to graduate with a PhD in English from the University of Auckland. She is currently a Senior Lecturer, specializing in New Zealand and Pacific Literature, Postcolonial Literature, and Creative Writing; her critical and creative work focuses on giving voice to Pacific communities. She was selected to be a Poet Olympiad for the 2012 London Olympics, and her first collection of poetry, Fast Talking PI (Auckland University Press, 2009), won the 2010 New Zealand Society of Authors Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry and made the top five Best Sellers List shortly after publication. She is currently writing her first critical book, investigating first wave Pacific women poets who publish in English. Selina’s second collection of poetry, Dark Sparring, is forthcoming from AUP in 2013.