Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) is a writer, poet, and performer who was born in Sāmoa and raised in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa.
Her poetry has been widely published. She holds an MA from the IIML at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and won the 2022 Biggs Family Prize in Poetry for Black Sugarcane, her first book.
She lives in Te Matau-a-Māui, Hawke’s Bay, and was the 2025 Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence at the IIML, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.