Renee (based in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau) is a poet, playwright, paediatrician, medical researcher and essayist. She is the Asian Theme Lead and a named investigator on landmark longitudinal study Growing Up In NZ. As an established writer, Renee has collaborated on visual arts works, film, opera and music, produced and directed theatre works, worked as a dramaturge, taught creative writing and organized community-based arts initiatives such as New Kiwi Women Write, a writing workshop series for migrant women, and The Kitchen, a new program nurturing stories in local kitchens. Her work The Bone Feeder, originally a play, later adapted into an opera, was one of the first Asian mainstage works to be performed in NZ. Renee has written, produced and toured eight plays. In 2018 she was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to the arts, and won Next Woman of the Year for Arts and Culture.
Renee is a poet, playwright, paediatrician, medical researcher and essayist. She is the Asian Theme Lead and a named investigator on landmark longitudinal study Growing Up In NZ. As an established writer, Renee has collaborated on visual arts works, film, opera and music, produced and directed theatre works, worked as a dramaturge, taught creative writing and organized community-based arts initiatives such as New Kiwi Women Write, a writing workshop series for migrant women, and The Kitchen, a new program nurturing stories in local kitchens. Her work The Bone Feeder, originally a play, later adapted into an opera, was one of the first Asian mainstage works to be performed in NZ. Renee has written, produced and toured eight plays. In 2018 she was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to the arts, and won Next Woman of the Year for Arts and Culture.
Organisation/Company
Name: Independent
My Role: Writer/ Producer
I can't not write. I can't not make. It is play, it is exploration, it is world building, it prepares the ground for growing who I am and nourishes my community.
Iwi affiliation
Hakka Cantonese
Rohe
Tāmaki Makaurau, 香港
How I got where I am today
I am a poet, playwright and essayist. I have toured eight plays and collaborated on visual arts works, dance, film, opera, community events and music. Some poetry and short fiction are anthologised. A memoir of motherhood, When We Remember to Breathe, with Michele Powles, appeared in 2019. In 2018 I was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to the arts.
Whānau
I have many skins. I have many lines of ancestry. Culturally, I am Cantonese; genetically, I am Hakka and Han. My lived experience is mostly in Aotearoa where I was born. I belong to communities of researchers, physicians, art makers and poets. Ask me who I am and you'll get a different answer depending on where I'm standing at the time.
What grounds me?
When I first started making work I was outward-facing: I tried to please everybody. Now that I know my audience I've realised that the community I serve is far more important to me. I tell the stories of my NZ Chinese community, and the work I make is for them and to them. Outsiders are welcome and invited, but please remember who I make the work for.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.