Hafekasi author’s journey shines light on Pacific identity

A Hafekasi author in Australia says that Pacific people are more than just the stereotypes of rugby players and labourers.

Winnie Dunn, of Tongan-Australian descent, says that there are many career paths available beyond sports and traditional nine-to-five work.

Dunn told PMN Tonga that many Pacific Islanders are mostly viewed as athletes and workers.

“Australia tends to see Pasefika people here as nothing more than … footy players or factory workers,” she says.

Dunn grew up during a time when the television series “Jonah from Tonga” portrayed a racially-insensitive Tongan youth.

As a teenager, Dunn felt embarrassed to embrace her Tongan heritage because of the negative perceptions in the wider community.

Throughout her university years, she faced challenges but developed critical thinking skills that helped her reclaim her identity.

“I just felt, you know, as a teenager, so ashamed of my Tongan identity,” she says.

“I started to reclaim my own story being Tongan and being Australian and that hyphen identity has become my biggest strength.”

Dunn debut novel launch 2024. Photo/Betterreadbookshop/Instagram.

She says that both of her cultural roots provide her with language, humour, faith, and resilience that enrich her writing as an author.

Now shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, considered Australia's most prestigious literary prize, Dunn hopes to serve as an inspiration for young Tongan writers to share their stories.

“It would be monumental not just for me but for every Pasefika person who’s been too loud, too poor, and too brown to matter in literature,” she says.

Dunn says that the stories of the Pacific community hold major value and that individuals should not feel ashamed of the realities.

She writes her novels to convey truth, exert power, and embrace the complexities of life.

“I try to explain my novel through … dirt, muck, of our lived experiences, there's a richness that comes out of that soil,” she says.

Dunn signing debut novel at book launch 2024. Photo/Betterreadbookshop/Instagram.

Dunn is proud to lead in the realm of Pacific writing, aiming to claim and redefine what it means to be Hafekasi.

She hopes to inspire the next generation to share their own stories.

Watch the full interview with Winnie Dunn below.