Thursday 14 September 2023, 6pm to 7pm
9 The Strand, Takapuna, Auckland
Free. Koha from non-members appreciated.
In this presentation at Auckland’s Takapuna Library, Alexander Turnbull Library’s Paul Diamond will talk about the highlights and challenges he has faced since being appointed the inaugural Curator, Māori in 2010.
A ground-breaking role
In 2010 the role of Curator, Māori was established at the Alexander Turnbull Library as part of a major restructure. It was the latest in a line of Māori-specific positions that commenced 30 years earlier. Unlike other curatorial roles this was a subject specialist role, but with no dedicated Māori collection. Instead, the position had influence that ranged across all of the Library’s collections.
In this presentation, Paul Diamond (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), the inaugural Curator, Māori gives an overview of his time in the role.
About the speaker
Paul Diamond (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is Curator, Māori at the Alexander Turnbull Library and a former recipient of the FoTL Research Grant. He received the Friends of the Turnbull Research Grant in 2007. Paul is the author of A Fire in Your Belly: Māori leaders speak (2003); Makereti: Taking Māori to the world (2007); Savaged to Suit: Māori and cartooning in New Zealand (2018); and Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay (2022). He has previously worked as an oral historian and broadcaster, and in 2017 was awarded Creative New Zealand’s Berlin Writer’s Residency. Downfall was selected as a finalist in the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards and the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards.
More information can be found here.