I came to Aotearoa almost ten years ago to pursue a PhD thesis that became “Whāine: an annotated anthology of Aotearoa New Zealand women poets in Italian translation”. I remember first studying te reo out of an old publication back in Italy, as

I was working on my Masters on the bone people by Keri Hulme. Te reo Māori is a way into te ao Māori as language shapes our perception of the world. The world is richer with te reo in it and it is a privilege to learn a culture through its language. We also have a debt to te reo Māori, we need to foster it for all that was done against it and the culture it weaves and sustains. I will do everything I can to play my part, one little act of resistance at a time! Arohatia te reo!!!