Leilani Tamu (aka Lani Grace) is a poet, former diplomat and creative nonfiction writer from Tāmaki Makaurau. She is the author of two poetry collections —The Art of Excavation (Anahera Press, 2014) and Cultural Diplomacy (2017). She has been published in a range of journals and anthologies, maintaining her writing practice alongside the demands of motherhood, caregiving, and a high-profile career. Her current work marks a turn toward longer forms. She is writing a collection of personal essays, anchored in memoir, told from the perspective of a woman in her forties who has lived a full and attentive life and is also working on her first play. Her writing engages with themes of identity, memory, and rebirth. She is drawn to stories that examine the tensions between love, belonging and suffering.