Giving voice to the past

Lynda Chanwai-Earle’s challenging one-woman play about growing up Chinese in NZ – Ka Shue (‘Letters Home’) – earned her a major write-up in Hawaii’s Star Bulletin. Described as a “fascinating look at a relatively unknown chapter in the history of overseas Chinese … much of it of it taken from the experiences of her great-grandmother and down through the female lineage to herself,” Ka Shue deals with “poll tax descendents,” mixed-marriages, and cultural collision. In 1994 Chanwai-Earle wrote an acclaimed collection of poetry entitled Honeypants, drawn from her experiences with NZ gang culture. She was then invited to take creative writing courses in women’s prisons throughout the country, as well as work with male and youth offenders.