Simone Kaho's poetry collection HEAL! offers up an uncompromising account of an assault that left her traumatised with PTSD, and at times, seemingly without hope. But the Tongan-Pakeha writer is a survivor, and there is hope within these poems, even if she's still scarred and still angry. Simone is also a journalist, filmmaker and performance poet, and she's this year's Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Her second collection comes six years after her first, Lucky Punch, was published. It's the first publication from Saufo`i Press. She tells Lynn Freeman that writing HEAL! has been part of years of hard work to recover after being ambushed and assaulted: PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS INTERVIEW CONTAINS REFERENCES TO VIOLENCE AND SELF HARM. HEAL! by Simone Kaho is published by Saufo`i Press. If this interview has raised concerns for you then contact LIFELINE on 0800 543 354