Wairarapa Word Opens Its 2026 Season

Wairarapa Word opens its 2026 Season with Midden Rahurahu (Ngāti Rahurahu, Ngāti Tahu–Ngāti Whaoa), author of the Ockham award-winning novel, Poorhara.

All welcome: Sunday February 1st, 3pm, Wairarapa Events Centre, Carterton, Wairarapa. Entry by Koha.

A road trip novel of epic proportions, Poorhara is a poignant, expansive and darkly funny novel which won the 2025 Hubert Church Prize for Fiction at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and was shortlisted for the Michael Gifkins Prize. The title is a play on the Māori word 'pōhara' which means 'poor'.

Here’s your chance to meet the author Midden Rahurahu, formerly Michelle Rahurahu, who will read from the book, discuss its origins (the novel was six years in the making), talk about her life as a writer, answer questions, and sign copies of her book.

A writer raised by tāngata turi (deaf Māori), Sign is Ragurahu's first language. They have a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, where they won the Modern Letters Fiction Prize. They are also the co-editor of Te Rito o te Harakeke, an anthology of Māori voices for Ihumātao.

Wairarapa Word has been offering a monthly literary programme since 2012, usually on the first Sunday afternoon of the month, in Carterton.

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