Wikipedia

Karlo Mila

Karlo Estelle Mila MNZM (born 1974) is a New Zealand writer and poet of Tongan, Pālagi and Samoan descent. Her first collection, Dream Fish Floating, received the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in 2006 at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. She has subsequently published two further poetry collections, A Well Written Body (2008) and Goddess Muscle (2020), the latter of which was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

Karlo Mila
Head and shoulders of Karlo Mila smiling at the camera, she has her hair up and a cloak made from Tapa cloth
Karlo Mila after her investiture as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019
Born1974 (age 49–50)
Rotorua, New Zealand
OccupationPoet
NationalityTongan, Pālagi and Samoan
EducationPhD, Massey University (2010)

Early life

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Mila is the eldest of two children. Her mother is of Pālagi and Samoan heritage with ancestral ties to Pago Pago, Savaiʻi, (Samoa) and her father is from Kolo fo'ou and 'Ofu, in Tonga.[1] She was born in 1974 in Rotorua, New Zealand and grew up in Palmerston North.[2][3] In her early years, Mila was always surrounded by books; she spent most of her time at the Palmerston North Library, where she read the entire fairytale section.[4] During high school, she excelled in English and poetry.[5] Although her father could not read or write, she was encouraged by her parents to make the most of the educational opportunities in New Zealand.[6] Mila wrote her first poem at the age of eight, about seeds, while attending Highbury School in Palmerston North, and went on to win her first poetry competition.[7] Mila also attended Tonga High School for six months in 1996 before moving back to New Zealand to complete her studies.[8]

Biography

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Mila began her tertiary studies at Massey University in 1995, where she completed her BA in Anthropology (Sociology), Masters in Social Work.[9] Mila subsequently moved back to Tonga for a period where she taught at Halafo'ou National Form Seven School.[8] Prior to publishing her first poetry works, Mila worked as a trade unionist and the manager of Pacific Health Research at HRC (Health Research Council of New Zealand) from 2000 to 2003.[10]

Her first award was the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry at the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, for Dream Fish Floating.[11] She then went on to contribute to anthologies such as Whetu Moana (Auckland University Press, 2002), Niu Voices (Huia Publishers, 2006), and Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry (Rattapallax Press, 2002).[11] Her second poetry collection, A Well Written Body (Huia, 2008), was a collaboration with German-born artist Delicia Sampero.[11][12] In 2010, Mila graduated with a PhD in Philosophy (Sociology).[13] Her thesis, Polycultural capital and the Pasifika second generation: Negotiating identities in diasporic spaces, explored how young people of the Pacific diaspora within New Zealand operate culturally and whether their cultural identities draws parallels with their wellbeing.[14] Mila also established the Mana Moana leadership programme based on her research.[15] As the programme director, founder and creator, the purpose of Mana Moana is to highlight and maintain ancestral Pasifika (Indigenous peoples of the Pacific) perspectives, intellect and knowledge within modern contexts.[16][17]

Mila's work was described by reviewer Nicky Pellegrino as "poetry [that] speaks to the soul".[18] Her creative style includes many references to her cultural roots including the broader Pacific, political issues, and love. She is also interested in the idea of literary Whakapapa (genealogy), dedicating entire sections to it ("Chanting Back To The Bones" and "Tuakana") in Dream Fish Floating. In 2011 the first ever Pacific literature conference in New Zealand was held in Wellington at Victoria University, where Mila was a keynote speaker alongside other widely celebrated writers in the Pacific region such as Patricia Grace, Albert Wendt and Reverend Strickson-Pua (founding member of the Polynesian Panthers).[19] Mila was then selected as the Tongan Pavillion at the world poetry summit olympiad event at the Southbank Centre in London, in 2012.[20]

Awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 2015, Mila had a three month residency at University of Hawai'i.[21] During the residency she focused on two works in development: a series of poems and a novel.[11] In 2016, she was awarded the Contemporary Pacific Art Award at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifka Awards.[22] In 2019, Mila was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for her contributions to the Pacific community and as a poet.[23] Poetry by Mila was included in UPU, a curation of Pacific Island writers’ work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020.[24] UPU was remounted as part of the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington in June 2021.[25] Her poetry also extends into her advocacy surrounding issues of climate change and women reflected in her work "Global Line Up", written in Jamaica at the climate crisis conference.[26][27][28] This poem would later be exhibited in Glasgow among other renowned Pasifika Poets (Selina Tusitala Marsh and Audrey Brown-Pereira) at COP26.[27][29] Mila has also worked as a columnist for the Dominion Post.[30]

In 2021, Mila's poetry collection Goddess Muscle (2020)[31] was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[32]

Selected works

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Poetry

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  • Dream Fish Floating (Huia, 2005)[33]
  • A Well Written Body, with German-born artist Delicia Sampero (Huia, 2008)[33]
  • Goddess Muscle (Huia, 2020)[33]

Anthologies

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  • Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry (Rattapallax Press, 2002)[34]
  • Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English (Auckland University Press, 2002)[35]
  • Best New Zealand Poems (Victoria University Press, 2003, 2005 & 2006)[36]
  • Niu Voices (Huia, 2006)[33]
  • A well written body (Huia, 2008)[33]

Awards and honours

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References

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  1. ^ "Nuku – Dr Karlo Mila". nukuwomen.co.nz. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Karlo Mila". www.wgtn.ac.nz. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Karlo Mila". Academy of New Zealand Literature. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. ^ TALANOA WITH TUPE – S02E03 – DR. KARLO MILA, 28 October 2021, retrieved 27 January 2022
  5. ^ Maoate-Cox, Daniela (1 November 2016). "Karlo Mila – On the rise of Pacific poetry". RNZ. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  6. ^ Mulligan, Jesse (29 June 2015). "Pacific Poetry – Dr Karlo Mila". RNZ. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  7. ^ "RNZ – Pacific Poetry". www.rnz.co.nz. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  8. ^ a b Staff, Kaniva (19 February 2013). "Representing Tonga at Poetry Parnassus, London: A Memoir of a Cultural Olympiad Event". Kaniva Tonga | Largest NZ-based Tongan news service. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Best New Zealand Poems 2005". www.wgtn.ac.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Karlo Mila – Work Experience". Datanyze. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d "Mila, Karlo". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  12. ^ Pellegrino, Nicky. "NZ Herald – A well written body". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  13. ^ "Karlo Mila-Schaaf". Massey University. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  14. ^ Mila-Schaaf, Karlo (2010). Polycultural capital and the Pasifika second generation : negotiating identities in diasporic spaces : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand (Thesis thesis). Massey University.
  15. ^ "Dr Karlo Mila – Mana Moana". Mana Moana. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  16. ^ Crump, Brian (3 November 2021). "Mana Moana – Pacific Voices". RNZ. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Mana Moana Experience". Leadership NZ. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  18. ^ Nicky Pellegrino (18 July 2008). "Thirtysomething love poetry". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  19. ^ "First Ever Pacific Literature Conference in New Zealand | Pasifika hub | Victoria University of Wellington". www.wgtn.ac.nz. 22 June 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Coconet – Creative New Zealand, Arts Pasifika Awards". www.thecoconet.tv. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Acclaimed Pacific poet Dr Karlo Mila awarded writing residency in Hawai'i". Fulbright New Zealand. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  22. ^ a b "Arts Pasifika Awards". Creative New Zealand. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  23. ^ a b "Dr Karlo Mila, MNZM, for services to the Pacific community and as a poet". gg.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  24. ^ "UPU". Silo Theatre. March 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  25. ^ "UPU". Kai Mau Festival. June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  26. ^ "RNZ – Karlo Mila Interview". www.rnz.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  27. ^ a b "Pacific poetry showcased at COP26". RNZ. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  28. ^ Moore, Rachel (27 July 2020). "Climate change examined in art and through indigenous voices". Stuff. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  29. ^ "Mana Moana Pacific Voices at COP26 | Pacific Environment". www.sprep.org. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  30. ^ Talanoa, Creative (26 September 2012). "Poet – Dr Karlo Mila". Creative Talanoa. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  31. ^ Mila-Schaaf, Karlo (2020). Goddess muscle. Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. ISBN 978-1-77550-400-9. OCLC 1222909292.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  32. ^ "Longlist 2021". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  33. ^ a b c d e "Huia Publishers Karlo Mila". huia.co.nz. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  34. ^ Nash, Susan Smith (2003). "Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry". World Literature Today. 77 (3/4): 156. doi:10.2307/40158337. JSTOR 40158337. ProQuest 209380465.
  35. ^ Wendt, Albert; Whaitiri, Reina; Sullivan, Robert, eds. (December 2002). Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poetry in English. Auckland Univ Press. ISBN 9781869402730.
  36. ^ "Karlo Mila 2003 – Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems". Retrieved 3 February 2022.
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