First published in 2003, the award-winning Whetu Moana was the first anthology of contemporary Polynesian poetry in English edited by Polynesians and was lauded by reviewers and widely read around the world. Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poetry in English is the follow-up volume to Whetu Moana - Whetu Moana Lua II - and includes poetry written over the last 25 years by over 70 writers from Aotearoa, Hawai'i, Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tahiti and Rotuma, and from Polynesian poets scattered around the world.
Editors Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan have selected work by established and celebrated poets as well as the new voices of a younger and exciting generation, including: J C Sturm, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Hone Tuwhare, Albert Wendt, Konai Helu Thaman, Haunani-Kay Trask, Robert Sullivan, Wayne Kaumualii Westlake, Tusiata Avia, Rangi Faith, Karlo Mila, Caroline Sinavaiana, Brandy Nalani McDougall, Apirana Taylor, Serie Barford, Bub Bridger, David Eggleton, Kai Gasper, Rore Hapipi, Phil Kawana, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Jean Mason, Trixie Te Arama Menzies, Mahealani Perez-Wendt, Tiare Picard, Roma Potiki, John Pule, Eti Sa'aga, Sage Takehiro and Tracey Tawhiao. The poems range from the lyrical and sensual to the harsh and gritty, from the political to the personal: poems with vivid fusions of imagery, claims of identity, laments, rages and celebrations. The anthology presents a vibrant, changing, varied, creative scene which confronts both a complex colonial past and a fast-moving global present.