Hope is a shovel and will give you blisters

Overwhelmed by the complexity of climate change, Nadine­ Hura sets out to find a language that connects more­ deeply with the environmental crisis. But what begins as a journalistic quest to understand the science takes an abrupt and introspective turn following the death of her brother.

In the midst of grief, Hura works through science, pūrākau, poetry and back again. Seeking to understand climate change in relation to whenua and people, she asks: how should we respond to what has been lost? Her many-sided essays explore environmental degradation, social disconnection and Indigenous reclamation, insisting that any meaningful response must be grounded in Te Tiriti and anti-colonialism.

Slowing the Sun is a karanga to those who have passed on, as well as to the living, to hold on to ancestral knowledge for future generations.

'Nadine’s writing can make us feel seen, less alone, more hopeful, more enlightened. He kaiwhakairo i te kupu, he ­kaituhi­ ngā kokonga ngākau – a carver of words, a ­writer ­for all corners of the heart.'

— Stacey Morrison (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa, Pākehā)