MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday 21 September 2010
New Kiwi migrant wins radio play on NZ
New Kiwi migrant Maya Hammarsal’s winning script on the obsession of grabbing a slice of New Zealand will be turned into
a radio play to be broadcast early next year.
Maya says, “The radio play unleashes the rat race to get a piece of Aotearoa. If we carry on mucking things up we’ll
get to a tipping point of mass extinction of the planet.”
Executive Producer of Drama at Radio NZ, Adam Macaulay said, “Maya’s a courageous writer.” He said she’s taken “big
risks,” by asking the questions, “Whose land is it anyway? Who has done what to the land? And there’s humour too. She’s
gone in boots and all – further than most people would.”
‘Land Grab NZ’ was inspired during a holiday in the Coromandel and a road trip through New Zealand. Maya says,
“Everywhere in NZ there are non eco-friendly monstrosities being thrown up and selling for millions. And subdivision
plots fill the countryside with massive signs - ‘live here for a slice of paradise!’ Is every piece of land in NZ up
for sale?”
‘Land Grab NZ’ is a tongue-in-cheek story beginning with Mother Nature plonking herself down on the Islands and nursing
her bunions in the Pacific Ocean – she’s here for a bit of a break. Dinosaurs have just become extinct. And then
enters the Maori followed by the Pakeha settlers. And you have to wait and see what happens next in the evolution
cycle.
Maya says, “Of course I’m a migrant wanting my part of NZ, but I want to contribute too. I want to know more about the
indigenous culture here and learn the Maori language.”
‘Land Grab NZ’ is planned for broadcast early next year. Maya looks forward to being an integral part of the creative
community in Aotearoa.
ends