Michaela Keeble

Keeble, Michaela (1979– ) is a poet, essayist, storyteller, and children’s book author. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne University and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka University. In 2018, Michaela earned Te Aupikitanga ki te Reo Kairangi from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Michaela’s origami chapbook Intertidal (2020) – a collection of poetry that celebrates the ocean’s agency in the face of climate change – was published in partnership with Anemone Press in 2020. Michaela’s debut collection of poetry, Surrender (2022), was long-listed for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Michaela’s work has been published in several anthologies, including Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems, Intimate Relations: Communicating in the Anthropocene, and No Other Place to Stand: An Anthology about Climate Change from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Her poetry, essays, and fiction have also appeared in the Pantograph Punch, The Spinoff, Newsroom, Cordite Poetry Review, the Plumwood Mountain Journal, Turbine |Kapohau, Westerly magazine, and more. She is the translator of Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries (HarperCollins UK) and the editor of America, My Brother, My Blood, a dialogue between the paintings of Oswaldo Guayasamín and the poetry of Pablo Neruda (Ocean Press). The Australian Book Review shortlisted Michaela’s essay ‘The Bind: On Reading’ for the Calibre Essay Prize in 2022.

Michaela’s first picture book, Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai (2023) – which explores themes of belonging, self-determination, and wielding political power – was co-written with her son Kerehi Grace (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Porou) and illustrated by Tokerau Brown.