Editorial
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Nau mai, haere mai to our August 2025 issue of takahē! A heartfelt thank you to everyone who supports us, whether by reading the magazine, submitting work, donating, buying a back issue or merch, sharing our content, or sending feedback. And of course, to our incredible contributors who have stitched their bold ideas, sharp insights, and shimmering sentences into this literary quilt. We’re grateful to you all for nurturing our vibrant corner of Aotearoa’s literary ecosystem.
This issue is more pared-back than usual. Like many in the arts sector, takahē is navigating the impact of reduced public funding. This issue comes to you thanks to what remains of our CNZ reserves, our supporters’ generosity, and our editorial team, current and former, who have waived their honoraria.
It can feel hard to advocate for the arts when essential sectors such as health, education and the environment are under pressure, but it shouldn’t be an either/or. We should be striving for an Aotearoa where basic needs are met, no one is left behind, and creativity has space to thrive. The arts shouldn’t feel unworthy in that vision. In the 2023–24 financial year, the government invested NZ$79.4 million into the arts. In return, the creative sector contributed NZ$17.5 billion to Aotearoa’s GDP—around 4.2% of the national economy.1
Literature, like all art forms, is part of this ecosystem that creates value and returns it to the nation. Of course, its true value isn’t in GDP figures but in the ways that creativity lends form to our feelings—from how we love to how we mourn or celebrate or protest. It breathes life into statistics, connects strangers across time and distance, and concentrates our curiosity to imagine alternatives to greed, bigotry, war and late-stage capitalism.
We are excited to announce Janet Newman as the judge for the 2025 Takahē Monica Taylor Poetry Prize. Janet lives in Koputaroa, Horowhenua, and her work has appeared across Aotearoa and Australia. We remain deeply grateful to Monica Taylor’s whānau for their ongoing support, and it’s an honour to continue running the Prize in her memory.
As always, we love hearing from you. Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky or X.
Thank you for being part of the takahē whānau.
Ngā mihi nui,
Angelique Kasmara
Reviews Co-Editor
- Source: Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Arts and creative sector economic profiles 2024. ↩︎