Jackson-Bourke named inaugural Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence

Auckland-based playwright Leki Jackson-Bourke has been announced as the inaugural Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence.

Run by the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) at Victoria University of Wellington, the residency provides Jackson-Bourke with a stipend of $15,000 to write and research his play For the Likes at the IIML for three months. He will also be mentored by playwright Victor Rodger.

For the Likes is about an insecure Tongan girl who seeks validation by attempting to go viral online.

Jackson-Bourke—who is of Tongan, Niuean and Samoan descent—said being awarded the residency was ‘an important moment in [his] journey as a young Pacific storyteller because of the responsibilities and duties that come with it’. ‘My next work aims to give space to the Pacific youth voice—a voice that I feel is currently misrepresented in the mainstream media,’ he said.

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Tags: writer in residence

Category: Local news