Hussein Rawlings: 2016

Hussein describes himself as a late starter who began writing in 1999 by request, on accounts of experiences in the remote back country and the regions around Ruatoria. He enjoyed the process and moved to writing fiction focussing on other settings and subjects. He has also been a long time but non prolific writer of poetry and has performed regularly in Cardrona, the Catlins, and as guest performer at the annual Nasby Bards, Ballards, and Bulldust festival. Awards include the KM Memoir Award 2003 for "The Old Kuia With The VC" on the Maori Battalion Website (Peter Wells, judge), and the Southland and Lakes District 2010 Short Story Award (Carl Nixon, judge), published in Earth and Water 2010. At the NZ Poetry Conference in Havelock North 2014, Hussein was one of 32 out of 156 participants given a 10-minute session to recite his own work.