Join us for a dynamic hybrid workshop exploring poetry, climate justice, and Pacific identity through the lyrical work of Fijian-born writer Daren Kamali. Visiting Fellow Dr. Maria Pilar Royo-Grasa (CAPRS) will guide participants through poetic selections from Tales, Poems and Songs from the Underwater World (2011), examining how Kamali’s work reclaims Indigenous knowledge and challenges neocolonial portrayals of Pacific Islanders as passive victims of climate change.

Drawing on Epeli Hau’ofa’s concept of the Pacific as a “sea of islands” and the lived realities of climate-related harm in Fiji, this workshop will combine literary analysis with discussion on the power of Pacific storytelling to drive environmental consciousness and resistance.

Hosted by the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS), this event invites attendees to engage with critical themes of voice, vulnerability, and poetic activism. Join us in person or online.

Dr. Pilar Royo-Grasa is a lecturer at the Department of English and German Studies of the University of Zaragoza, where she teaches English Literature and Language. She has been awarded a José Castillejo scholarship to attend the University of Auckland as a Visiting Fellow, where she is doing research on how Fijian authors, based in New Zealand, tackle themes such as climate related mobility in their literary works. She is the author of the monograph Trauma, Australia and Gail Jones’s Fiction (1996-2007) (Peter Lang 2022), and has published in international journals such as Journal of Postcolonial Writing, The European Legacy, Humanities, Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, Journal of the European Association for the Studies of Australia, and Commonwealth Essays and Studies.

Maria Ahmad is a Researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Auckland. Her areas of research and interests include refugee education and civic participation, social justice and equity in higher education, and ethnic women empowerment. She has been involved with The Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS) since its inception in 2020 as an oversight board member.