As part of Remediating Stevenson for contemporary Pacific Islander and Scottish audiences alike, the project has commissioned several original poems from indigenous Pacific authors, engaging with the indigenous contexts and locations referenced in Stevenson’s fiction. Selina Tusitala Marsh, Sina Sinavaiana, and Keao NeSmith are reflecting on Stevenson’s legacy in Sāmoa, Hawai‘i and Scotland through their poetry and confronting many of the themes arising for Solomon Enos and Simon Grennan in their graphic adaptations: gender, representation, space and time.
‘Echo Location: A Conversation’, by Caroline (Sina) Sinavaiana Gabbard
In her ‘Echolocation’ poetry sequence, Samoan poet Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard explores connections between Stevenson’s Scottish homeland, his final home at Vailima in Sāmoa, and his burial place on Mount Vaea (focus of a Samoan legend about a giant named Vaea, and his beloved Apa‘ula). Alongside her poetry sequence, Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard includes her own rendering of a nineteenth-century version of the Vaea and Apa‘ula legend.
Click on the links to download Caroline’s poetry sequence Echo Location – a conversation and The Legend of Vaea and Apa‘ula.
‘The Uma Collection’, by Selina Tusitala Marsh
Selina Tusitala Marsh, who has ancestral connections to Sāmoa and Tuvalu, has produced a poetry sequence focused on Uma, a woman of i-Kiribati descent who marries John Wiltshire, a British trader in Stevenson’s story ‘The Beach of Falesá’. The poetry sequence shifts the focus of Stevenson’s story, which is narrated by Wiltshire, by reimagining scenes from the tale in ways that further emphasise Uma’s active role, and allow her to tell her own story.
Clik on the link to access Selina’s The Uma Collection
The ‘RLS’ poetry sequence, by Keao NeSmith
The final poetry sequence, by native Hawaiian author and translator Keao NeSmith, is inspired by Stevenson’s travels and friendships in Hawai‘i, with poems exploring a Honolulu school named after Stevenson; the historic hut where Stevenson stayed (as a guest of the Hawaiian royal family) in 1889; and the significance of Stevenson’s writing for contemporary Hawaiians.
Click on the link to access Keao’s R.L.S. poetry sequence.
