Marama Salsano

Iwi/Hapū Affiliations

Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Wairere 

Īmera: marama.salsano@twoa.ac.nz

Relevant Qualifications

PhD: Creative Writing, International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington

MA: Māori Cultural Studies / Tikanga Māori, University of Waikato

MA: Creative Writing, International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington

GradDipTeach: Secondary Teaching, University of Waikato

GradDipArts: English, Massey University

Bachelor of Business Studies: Accountancy, Massey University 

Expertise

As a writer-scholar, editor, multidisciplinary artist, and former high school English teacher, Marama works within the broad fields of Māori and Indigenous Literary Studies, and Toi Māori. Her PhD project explores Indigenous multigenre and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki creativity. Marama has co-edited a limited-edition e-zine of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki writing called Haumi, and she co-edited the anthology To Feel The Earth as One’s Skin: Indigenous Visual Poetry. Her current visual work includes textile art/banners/visual poetry, and contemporary upoko whakairo paintings.

Key Contributions  

Books

  • 2024: To Feel the Earth as One’s Skin: An Anthology of Indigenous Visual Poetry. Coedited by Lara Felsing, Marama Salsano & Astra Papachristodoulou, Poem Atlas, UK.

Peer reviewed Articles

  • 2024: A letter to future iwi and Indigenous literary scholars. Journal of New Zealand Literature, 39, pp. 26-40.

  • 2024: Re-weaving Te-Moana-nui-a-Kiwa: Wāhine Māori bodies in short fiction. Literature Compass Special Issue: Global visions from Oceania, edited by Bonnie Etherington & Tina Makereti, pp. 1-16.

  • 2024: Cyberspace is an island in Oceania: A close reading of Te Kuharere Tapes by @tekahureremoa. An Ocean of Wonder: The Fantastic in the Pacific, edited by Cristina Bacchilega, ku’ualoha ho’omanawanui & Joyce Pualani Warren, University of Hawai’i Press, pp. 270-279.

  • 2024: Salsano, M., & Taito, M. HAERENGA/SAL FẠIVA: Two Indigenous Women and Their Creative Practice Doctoral Journeys. Waka Kuaka | Journal of the Polynesian Society, SPECIAL ISSUE: in a room, in a house, on an island, in an ocean, edited by Andrea Low & Marcia Leenen-Young, The Polynesian Society (Inc.), vol. 133, pp. 77-95.

Recent Poetry

  • 2025: “How to write a conference paper.” Australian Association for Pacific Studies Newsletter: June, p. 9.

  • 2025: “Kōhatu.” The Quick Brown Dog: The Journal of Hagley Writers’ Institute, Issue 7, p. 99.

  • 2024: “Night conversations at the urupā (a pocketful of pouhine).” Turbine / Kapohau.

  • 2024: “Clothing Care Labels,” “Stories.” Yellow Medicine Review: Fall 2024, pp. 172-174.

  • 2024: “this tauiwi house.” Journal of Global Indigeneity.

  • 2024: “ko au tēnei.” An Ocean of Wonder: The Fantastic in the Pacific, edited by Cristina Bacchilega, Ku’ualoha Ho’omanawanui & Joyce Pualani Warren, University of Hawai’i Press, p. 269.

  • 2024: “Māhaki blood.” https://badapple.gay/2024/08/23/mahaki-blood/

  • 2024: Mini Bisexual Poems [series of 4 scratch card poems]. Poem Atlas.

  • 2024: Māori Clay People Poems. [series of 4 scratch card poems]. Poem Atlas.

  • 2024: Papachristodoulou, A., Salsano, M., & Felsing, L. Mini Poems about the Elements. [collaborative scratch card poems]. Poem Atlas.

  • 2023: “wa / hi / ne.” Waka Kuaka | Journal of the Polynesian Society, The Polynesian Society, pp. 80-83.

Recent Zines

  • 2025: How Blood Works. Winner: Best Long Form Zine, Kirikiriroa/Hamilton Zine Fest.

  • 2024: Wāhine. Winner: Best Political Zine, Kirikiriroa/Hamilton Zine Fest.

  • 2023: Haumi: A limited-edition e-zine of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki writing, edited by Marama Salsano & Tara McAllister.

Recent Presentations

  • 2025: “The future is f(ph)at: Representational justice by reading Indigenous fatness in literature.” Australian Association for Pacific Studies Conference, University of Sydney, Australia.

  • 2024: “Healing Indigenous bodies through poetry, art and play.” Convenor: Marama Salsano. Panellists: Marama Salsano, Ammon Hāwea Apiata, Julz Nonoa & Kiri Leach (Hau Tūtū Aotearoa), Cultural Studies Association of Australasia (CSAA2024) Conference, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

  • 2024: “An Ocean of Wonder: Sustaining Indigenous Pacific Traditions and Communities into the Future.” Chair: Cristina Bacchilega. Forum Panellists: Caryn Lesuma, Marama Salsano, Lehua Parker, Māhealani Ahia. Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society, Albuquerque Convention Center, New Mexico.

  • 2023: “Critical Māhaki intellectual histories.” New Zealand Historical Association Conference, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.

  • 2023: “Reweaving our universe: A series of waiata aroha to my kuia, Hinetapuārau.” Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania Annual Meeting, Kona, Hawai’i.

Meet the Team