Elizabeth Smither
Elizabeth Smither was the third Te Mata Estate Poet Laureate (2001–3). She has published seventeen collections of poems, as well as novels and short stories. Her most recent publications are The Blue Coat (Auckland University Press, 2013) and Ruby Duby Du, a suite of poems for her granddaughter, Ruby (Cold Hub Press, 2013).
Smither comments: ‘My mother was always beautifully dressed and here she is visiting me in hospital after an appendectomy when I was in my forties. There is something fierce in her stance, for the protectiveness of being a mother never ceases; her elegant dress and accessories, the gloves she pulls off in a mocking fashion as if to challenge the surgeon, have something of the quality of a samurai warrior. She is determined to pull me back to the world of real sunlight and love.’
