Launch Invitation - Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds

Please join us to celebrate: Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds By Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins Tuai will be launched at Kororāreka Marae in the Bay of Islands, then celebrated at the Kohia Centre in Auckland. Kororāreka, Bay of Islands When: Saturday 8 July 2017, 1.00–3.00pm Where: Kororāreka Marae, Te Whare Haratu, Kororareka, Bay of Islands RSVP: RSVP for afternoon tea to Deb at rewiri.boyce@xtra.co.nz or phone 027 289 4044 Read more: Website, Facebook, download an invitation Auckland When: Thursday 13 July 2017, 5.30–7.30pm Where: Kohia Centre, 78 Epsom Ave, Auckland RSVP: For light catering purposes please RSVP to Alison at a.jones@auckland.ac.nz, Kuni at Kuni.Jenkins@wananga.ac.nz or text 021 13 909 57. Directions: Parking is in Gate 1 and 2 of the Faculty of Education and Social Work on Epsom Ave. The Kohia Centre is just inside Gate 1 on the left. Read more: Website, Facebook, download an invitation All welcome. Alison Jones, Kuni Kaa Jenkins, and the BWB Team About the Book In early 1817 Tuai, a young Ngare Raumati chief from the Bay of Islands, set off for England. He was one of a number of Maori who, after encountering European explorers, traders and missionaries in New Zealand, seized opportunities to travel beyond their familiar shores to Australia, England and Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. On his epic journey Tuai would visit exotic foreign ports, mix with teeming crowds in the huge metropolis of London, and witness the marvels of industrialisation at the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire. With his lively travelling companion Titere, he would attend fashionable gatherings and sit for his portrait. He shared his deep understanding of Maori language and culture. And his missionary friends did their best to convert him to Christianity. But on returning to his Maori world in 1819, Tuai found there were difficult choices to be made. His plan to integrate new European knowledge and relationships into his Ngare Raumati community was to be challenged by the rapidly shifting politics of the Bay of Islands. Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins uncover the remarkable story of one of the first Maori travellers to Europe. For more information, contact julia.wells@bwb.co.nz or go to the BWB website.