Faith, Rangi
IN BRIEF
Rangi Faith is a poet, anthologist, reviewer, and teacher. His first collection of poetry Unfinished Crossword was released in 1990, and he edited Dangerous Landscapes: An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in 1994. This book is a collection of poetry for young adults, which explores the issues that surround both Maori and European notions of history and identity. He published Conversations with a Moahunter in 2005, and was featured in Shards of Silver (Steele Roberts, 2006), a book of photography and poetry.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Faith, Rangi (1949 - ) is a poet, anthologist, and reviewer. He has also been a primary school teacher for many years.
Faith’s poetry was first published in Te Ao Hou and in Into a World of Light (1982). His first collection, Unfinished Crossword (1990), was followed by Dangerous Landscapes (1994) and then Rivers Without Eels (2001).
Faith’s preoccupation is with what Tom Weston has called 'the unsettled scores of a colonial history'. As a poet Faith engages with both the Maori and the European experiences of landscape and language. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature writes that Faith’s 'poems draw strength from an unfamiliar point of view, [that] the poet himself modestly reticent and undogmatic.'
In addition to being a writer, Faith is also an editor. In Dangerous Landscapes: An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry (1994), Faith created a collection of poetry for young adults that explores the issues that surround both Maori and European notions of history and identity. The collection also addresses issues of writing as craft.
Since 1988 Faith has lived in Rangiora where he continues to write and teach.
Conversations with a moahunter (2005, was published by Steele Roberts.
Faith had a poem included in Shards of Silver (Steele Roberts, 2006), a book investigating the interplay between photography and poetry.
writers in schools information
Faith is available for school visits as part of the Book Council's Writers in Schools programme.
Media links and clips
- Rangi Faith's website
- Poem by Rangi Faith
- Rangi Faith on the New Zealand Poets Online site
- Rangi Faith on The University of Auckland New Zealand Literature File site
