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A white book cover with abstract green, red and brown marks. The title is in all lowercase lettering in black at the top of the page

Iona Winter

Iona Winter (Waitaha/Kāi Tahu) is a poet, essayist, storyteller and editor. She has three published collections, and her next two books are due in 2024.

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A middle-aged woman with long brown-grey hair and a shoulder tattoo stands smiling in front of a woven object

Iona Winter

Iona Winter (Waitaha/Kāi Tahu) is a poet, essayist, storyteller and editor. She has three published collections; then the wind came (2018), Te Hau Kāika (2019), Gaps in the Light (2021), and was creator, editor and publisher of the Elixir & Star Press Grief Almanac a liminal gathering (2023). Her next two books (poetry and non-fiction) are due for publication in 2024.

In 2022, Iona was awarded the CLNZ/NZSA Writers’ Award to complete ‘A Counter of Moons’, a creative non-fiction book addressing the complexities of suicide bereavement. She founded Elixir & Star Press in 2023, as a dedicated space for the expression of grief in New Zealand, in memory of her late son and musician Reuben Winter. The inaugural publication ‘a liminal gathering’, was launched in November 2023, with over 100 multimedia artistic responses to grief.

Iona holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing, and is widely published and anthologised internationally. Skilled at voicing difficult topics, she creates work that spans genre and form. Her poetry has been performed solo and in collaboration with other multimedia artists, at numerous festivals and installations. Iona lives in the Tasman region of Aotearoa New Zealand.

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