Nafanua Purcell Kersel
Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) is a writer, poet and performer who was born in Sāmoa and raised in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. Her poetry has been widely published. She has an MA from the IIML and won the 2022 Biggs Family Prize in Poetry for Black Sugarcane, her debut collection, which went on to win the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2026. She lives in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay.
Photo credit Ebony Lamb
Verb Readers & Writers Festival 2026 events Nafanua Purcell Kersel features in:
Fever! A Poetry Gala