Rūbarū*: Digital Series
* A Persian-origin word, now in Urdu and occasionally Hindi usage, Rūbarū means coming face-to-face, to meet, to be present and to present. In this series Aotearoa and international authors explore artistic resonances, writerly preoccupations, thematic obsessions and share the pleasures and struggles of the craft.
Series is now online until 24 December. Featured authors are: Ling Ma with Rosabel Tan; Sara Baume with Catherine Chidgey; Trent Dalton with Melody Thomas; Paige Clark with Emma Sidnam; and Claudia Durastanti with Michelle Rahurahu. You can purchase one at a time or the whole package of five.
In 2018 Ling Ma’s debut, Severance, won a 2018 Kirkus Prize and was listed as a New York Times Notable Book of 2018 and shortlisted for the 2019 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Now in her first collection of short stories, Bliss Montage, her courtship with the bizarre finds footing in the all too real world of love and loneliness, home and belonging and the search for connections, set somewhere in a shimmering land between the possible and the improbable. From Chicago, she joins Aotearoa writer and creative producer Rosabel Tan, to talk about craft, identity and the genre-bending nature of her work.
