Commonwealth Poet Laureate Prof Selina Tusitala Marsh returns home

As Aotearoa marks Vaiaso o te 'Gana Tuvalu | Tuvalu Language Week, Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh, the internationally acclaimed poet, scholar, children's author and inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate, touched down in the homeland of her grandfather for the very first time.

Tuvalu has always been more than a place on a map, it is part of her identity, carried in family stories, language and the treasured legacy of her grandfather, Vailei Tusitala, whose roots trace back to Niutao and Funafuti.

"I am the proud granddaughter of Vailei Tusitala from Niutao and Funafuti in Tuvalu. It is from him that I got my family name and legacy of Tusitala, storyteller," Marsh says.

This year's Tuvalu Language Week theme, 'Taofi mau ki tau 'gana, mo tou gaugaleo, me ko tou iloga tena | Uphold your language and dialect, for it is your identity,' resonates deeply with Marsh's life's work. Throughout her distinguished career she has championed Pacific languages, histories and stories, demonstrating how language carries memory, genealogy, culture and belonging across generations.

Her first visit to Tuvalu came last month in August, traveling to Funafuti as Commonwealth Poet Laureate and as a featured guest of Tuvalu's inaugural Cultural Festival. Although severe weather forced organisers to postpone the main festival to protect delegates travelling from the outer islands, Marsh remained and transformed the week into something equally significant: a series of creative writing workshops designed to nurture the next generation of Tuvaluan storytellers.

Approaching Funafuti by air left a profound impression on her.

"You grasp the stakes before you land," she reflected. "A coral atoll a few metres above a rising sea, holding a nation."

Over eight days, Marsh worked with students, teachers, aspiring writers and community leaders. At Fetuvalu Secondary School, she facilitated workshops with 30 participants, ranging from senior secondary students to adults, guiding them through writing exercises that encouraged them to share their own stories and experiences. By the end of the programme, students were confidently reading their work aloud and offering feedback to one another.

At Nauti Primary School, she read from her beloved children's book Mophead and shared the story of her symbolic tokotoko, the carved orator's staff she carries as a reminder that every voice matters. Inspired by the story, 80 Tuvaluan children designed their own tokotoko and wrote about what it represented. Their responses reflected the heart of Tuvalu itself: coconuts, community, culture and concern for the future of their islands in the face of climate change.

One eleven-year-old wrote about the coconut tree as "the only tree that grew in the past and still grows in Tuvalu", while also describing "the standing ground of Tuvalu by sea level rise."

These creative reflections revealed not only remarkable imagination but also a deep awareness of the challenges facing their nation.

Marsh also worked alongside the Tuvalu National Council of Women, where she met women carrying powerful stories that had yet to be written down.

Recognising the richness of this narrative talent, she identified two emerging writers she believes could become Tuvalu's first entrants into the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize and has volunteered to mentor them over the coming year.

The commitment reflects a recurring theme throughout her career: opening doors for Pacific voices.

As the first Pacific person to earn a PhD in English from Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, Marsh has spent decades creating space for Pacific storytelling in literature, scholarship and public life. Her acclaimed works, including Fast Talking PI, Tightrope and the award-winning Mophead series, have challenged and expanded conversations about identity, migration, family, race and belonging.

In 2025, her appointment as the Commonwealth's first-ever Poet Laureate elevated that mission to a global stage. Representing 2.7 billion people across 56 nations, Marsh now crafts poems for major Commonwealth events and advises on creative and cultural initiatives throughout the network.

Yet despite the prestige of the role, her visit to Tuvalu illustrated where her priorities remain.

A modest grant from the Commonwealth Foundation funded notebooks, pens and workshop materials. Marsh covered her own airfares and accommodation through University of Auckland research funding because, as she explains, she believes deeply in the work and in the importance of helping Tuvaluan stories flourish.

"As the inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate, I am, in a sense, drawing the map as I walk it," she wrote. "Tuvalu warranted it." 

For Tuvaluans in Aotearoa, her journey is both personal and symbolic. A granddaughter returning to her ancestral homeland has become a bridge between generations, carrying with her the stories of the past while helping plant the stories of the future.

Her visit underscored an enduring truth at the heart of Tuvalu Language Week: that language and storytelling are not merely cultural expressions, but foundations of identity.

Marsh often draws on Pacific wisdom to describe the collective power of storytelling.

"In Sāmoan, we say, O le tele o sulu e maua ai figota – the more torches we have, the more fish we can catch. Poetry is our torch, illuminating paths between our diverse cultures and histories."

As Tuvalu Language Week celebrates the importance of safeguarding language as a marker of identity, Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh's first journey to her grandfather's homeland stands as a powerful reminder that when stories are nurtured, cultures thrive. From Funafuti's coral shores to the global Commonwealth stage, she continues to ensure that Pacific voices are not only heard, but celebrated.

And in Tuvalu, the seeds she planted are already beginning to grow.