Maori writer and scholar Alice Te Punga Somerville has launched her first poetry collection from her new home - in Canada. She has several academic books to her name but Always Italicise - How to write while colonised is a personal account of racism experienced in and out of academic institutions, and her fears for her baby daughter being brought up in Aotearoa. The title 'Always italicise foreign words', was advice from a friend, and you'll find that in Alice's poems, English is in italics, Maori is not. Alice talks to Lynn Freeman about the collection, inspired by an experience she had at a writer's festival. Always Italicise - how to write while colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville is an Auckland University Press publication.