Signal Boost #49 – Steph Matuku (Flight of the Fantail) and Bethany C. Morrow (MEM)

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Elizabeth talks to Steph Matuku, author of the debut novel, Flight of the Fantail, and the children’s book, Whetū Toa and the Magician. Both are out from HUIA Publishers in New Zealand. The two talk about how Steph treated the environment as a character, the influence her Maori culture has on her books, how she was sponsored (and published!) through the Te Papa Tupu writing program, the tough reality of writing, and more!

Then Jen reminisces about UCSC (GO SLUGS!) with author Bethany C. Morrow for hours and hours. Kidding! The two explore Bethany’s historical fantasy science fiction novel, MEM, her YA debut novel, A Song Below Water, and her upcoming YA anthology, Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance. They discuss the effect that omitting whiteness has upon a story, the importance of resistance to her writing, the sinister reality of west coast liberal racism, and much more.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Show Notes:

Steph Matuku (00:54 – 15:54)
- Steph’s Website
- Steph on Twitter
- Flight of the Fantail and Whetū Toa and the Magician (GO BUY THEM!)

Bethany C. Morrow (16:09 – 43:24)
- Bethany’s Website
- Bethany on Twitter
- MEM (GO BUY IT!)

If you have a question you’d like us to answer, feel free to shoot us a message on our contact page.

Our new intro and outro music comes from “Dimension” by Creo (CC BY 4.0), which has been slightly modified to include sound effects and for length purposes.