So, a few weeks ago I told you why New Zealand voices are important. Now for the follow up – why should you read and promote New Zealand stories? You, who may be from the US, or France, or the Philippines, or anywhere in the world. You, who probably hasn’t been to New Zealand or thought about visiting New Zealand. You, dear reader, who may not even know a New Zealander. Why should you read New Zealand literature? Why should you care?

I’m going to rephrase this question for you to get a deeper understanding of what I am really asking. Why should I, the reader I am with the background I have, experience I have been through, and the perspective I have, read outside of my bubble? Why should I read perspectives outside of my country, outside of my understanding of how community, family, work, and life function? Do you see where I’m going with this?

Reading New Zealand literature, or any literature for that matter, is not a matter of reading the exotic or adding rare reads to your tbr lists for the sake of talking points. It is a matter of worldly acceptance. A matter of compassion, connection, and common ground. Why should you read outside of your experience? Why should you read outside of your country? Why should you read views and experiences that differ from yours, in history and geography, in culture and social divides, in identity and race? Reading New Zealand literature is a matter of expanding your world view just as reading any country’s literature is a matter of seeing the world and life through a different lens. It is a matter of empathising with other people in other nations, and finding what makes you similar as well as different. Literature allows us to communicate, learn, and relate to others, some of whom we never thought would share our experiences.

Take New Zealand Literature, for example. New Zealand is part of the commonwealth, alongside many (but not all) countries that were colonised by the British Empire. New Zealand is also a country with a strong native history through our Māori tangata (people) which connects us to other nations around the globe, not only our neighbours in the Pacific, but to the Native peoples across the North American continent, and to any and all native peoples. Outside of our Māori and British ancestry, New Zealand is home to many cultures and communities, some going back as far as the 1800s with the immigration boom in New Zealand thanks to work opportunities. We have people who identify as Chinese New Zealanders, American New Zealanders, Indian New Zealanders, and so on. This brings nuanced perspectives into New Zealand literature with the blended cultures and experiences – the good, the bad, and the ugly. This gives such a depth and richness to our national literature that is both intriguing and relatable.

Without giving New Zealand literature, or any nation’s literature, a fair go and picking up more than a few titles for genuine reading, you withhold yourself from finding common ground and relatable experiences outside of your bubble. You keep yourself restricted to that bubble thinking that the only people that may understadn you are those around you whent hat couldn’t be further from the truth. Reading literature, from the high-brow to the low-brow and everything in between, from other countries opens you up to learning not only more about tohers, but more about yourself. It gives you the opportunity to expand your own perspective, to understand more about others than you thought could be possible, and allows you the chance to consder and reconsider what you have been told about other people, other nations, and depictions of history.

I implore you, dear reader, to expand your horizons and read literature outside of your own country. Read furthe than the borders of your nations, further than the borders of your continent if possible, and find pieces of yourself in the stories of others all over the globe. If possible, I’d like you to start at the little country in the bottom of the Pacific that I call home. We have plenty of experiences, one of which I am sure you can relate to. From there, the world is your oyster.