VakaViji | Fijian (Lauan dialect)
Au a dau vosa vakaPalagi kau kila vakalailai eso a vosa vakaViji niu se tubu cake jiko. Au mai vulica a vosa vakaMaori e Univesiti. Ena gauni i esa toso jiko a qou vuli vosa vakaMaori se te reo Māori e Te Wananga o Aotearoa kau vuli vosa vakaViji ena onalaine.
Na suluwanu e sega ni mate rawa
E pamutakina a serei luvena yalewa ko Mere me tovolea me vakabulai kea, ia e sa leqa ko Gade ni sa sega ni drodro rawa a ona dra. Sa dua a ka a mosi ni utoi Mere kei na ona sa luluvu. E sa mai cegu yani a ona sasaga ni sa kauta a bula nei Gade a waitui. E koto tu a yagoi Gade e na nuku katakata kei na todra ni siga e na yasa ni dua na suluwanu dui roka. Rai cake ko Mere, ka raica na sua i gelegele ni drau ni niu. A gauna cava beka e a tekivu me taleitakina ko Gade a waitui? E keveti luvena ko Gade ka kauti kea yani ki na drua e na bati ni wai, ka voce yani ki wasawasa. Vakayasava a boto ni waqa ka sarava na drodro yani ni wai. Lutudromu na drua ka sereki rau yani ki wasawasa. E rau lakova yani a kedra maliwa a suluwanu e vaka me ra meke tu ka ra veiciriyaki cake mai ki dela ni wai.
I grew up speaking English, some Fijian and some te reo Māori at university. I am now learning te reo Māori at Te Wananga o Aotearoa and Fijian online.
Immortal Deepstaria
Mere pumped her daughter’s chest, trying to resuscitate her. But Gade’s blood stilled in her veins. Heartsick and tearful, Mere gave up. The waitui had taken Gade. Her blueing body lay on hot sand near a sunbaked opalescent jellyfish. Mere looked up to the swaying coconut fronds. When did Gade’s love of the waitui begin? She lifted Gade into the drua at the water’s edge, paddled out to sea, punctured the hull and watched the water rush in. The drua foundered, delivering them both into the waitui. They fell together among schools of pulsing Deepstaria jellyfish, taking breath in luminous dance.
Na suluwanu e sega ni mate rawa | Immortal Deepstaria
More about this story, and the anthology Te Moana o Reo | Ocean of Languages, featuring more than 40 languages of Aotearoa, can be found at The Cuba Press, here.
Gina Cole is a Fijian/Pākehā writer living in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her short story collection Black Ice Matter won Best First Book Fiction at the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her science fiction fantasy novel Na Viro is a work of Pasifikafuturism. Her fiction, poetry and essays have been widely anthologized. In 2023 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to literature. In 2025 she is judging the Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose competition, with Lynn Jenner.