In 'The brown writers in the room', a new essay written for The Spinoff Book, Ātea editor Leonie Hayden asks why written journalism is ignored by Māori media funding bodies when it is the axis of mainstream media. She speculates on whether institutions are making space for young Māori keen to write about the world around them, and looks at our rich Māori literary tradition.

"Māori broadcasting is our voice and it's strong. But Māori media needs a pen too."

Here Spinoff editor Toby Manhire introduces Leonie Hayden, who reads the post, one of the many that appears in The Spinoff Book alongside dozens of other entertaining, edifying and just plain eccentric pieces of writing, with the best of The Spinoff’s first five years and a host of new material, as well as sumptuous new illustrations by Toby Morris.

The Spinoff Book, published by Penguin Random House New Zealand, is available everywhere books are sold.

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