Samuel Te Kani

Samuel Te Kani (born 1990) is a Māori author, artist, and sexpert.[1][2]

Early life

Te Kani (Ngāpuhi) grew up in Whangārei. Te Kani has described growing up in a Protestant household who were accepting of his early cross-dressing, and that his family experienced brief stints of homelessness as a result of evictions.[3] Te Kani came out as gay when he was 14, saying that he came out "without the practical knowledge of my orientation, only the fervent theoretical belief that I was a homosexual."[4]

Career

Te Kani started sex blogging in 2013–14, which then led to series of mini-documentaries, Sex with Sam, for Vice on different aspects of sex and sexuality in New Zealand.[5][6]

Te Kani has also written cultural, music, and sex-related essays for a variety of publications, including Metro, Vice, The Spinoff, TVNZ, Stuff, and Radio New Zealand.[7][8][4][9][10][11][12]

In 2015 Te Kani contributed a chapter to the book Close Your Eyes With Holy Dread, and in 2020 contributed a chapter to the book Whose Futures?[13][14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand Te Kani supplemented his income by writing 150-200 personalised erotic stories on commission.[1] Reoccurring motifs in these commissions were John Campbell, Britney Spears, and bisexual Male-Male-Female stories.[1]

Te Kani participated in New Zealand's 2018 National Poetry Day, and in two panels in the 2020 Samesame But Different writing festival; one on science-fiction, and another on sex.[15][16] Te Kani participated in the 2022 Auckland Writers Festival and 2022 New Zealand Young Writers Festival.[17][18]

In 2022, Te Kani's essay Catholic Taste was shown and orated in the art show Season, a mixed-medium gallery in the Commercial Bay Shopping Centre.[19]

Please, Call Me Jesus

In 2021 Te Kani published Please, Call Me Jesus his debut fiction book of erotic short-stories. In describing the book, Te Kani said that Please, Call Me Jesus is "a collection of mostly erotic fiction, but I play with the genre a little bit there too, so there's sci-fi and fantasy elements."[20]

One reviewer summarised the book as "There's an unsavory Messiah, a monk named Tilda Swinton, as well as werewolves, a lidless box of dildos and enough fisting scenes to equal 11 weeks of lockdown."[21] One review for 95bFM said that Please, Call me Jesus is "clever and dark, and it's consistently reminding you of how freaky and weird and intelligent [Te Kani]'s brain is.[22]

Influence and writing style

Te Kani's work often falls under the science-fiction category, he said "I love sci-fi categorically as a genre because it's just a lab house for futures. It's a space where we can project and reimagine where we are and where we are going."[1]

Te Kani said the first time he encountered erotic fiction was when he was twelve years old, reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, which led to a lifelong interest in the subject.[1] Te Kani has been influenced by writers Witi Ihimaera and Peter Wells.[20]

Published works
  • Te Kani, Samuel (2015). Davidson, Henry (ed.). Close your eyes with holy dread. Artspace. ISBN 978-0-99412-256-8. OCLC 929994058.
  • —— (2020). Murtola, Anna-Maria; Walsh, Shannon (eds.). Whose Futures?. Economic and Social Research Aotearoa. ISBN 978-0-47354-738-7. OCLC 1236459764.
  • —— (2021). Please, call me Jesus. Dead Bird Books. ISBN 978-1-99115-061-5. OCLC 1286676571.

References
  1. Tweedie, Maggie (2022-02-15). "Meet the man who wrote personalised erotic fiction for horny Aucklanders". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  2. "May Fair Art Fair". mayfairartfair.com. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  3. "Self-portrait: Samuel Te Kani". Newsroom. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  4. "My one night stand in Auckland City". RNZ. 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  5. "I/V w/ Sam Te Kani: March 13, 2019". 95bFM. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  6. "Sex With Sam – VICE Video: Documentaries, Films, News Videos". Video. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  7. "Samuel Te Kani". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  8. "Metro". www.metromag.co.nz. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  9. Kani, Samuel Te. "Reality?: "Election Billboards", Gone Girl and Playing Broken Systems". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  10. Kani, Samuel Te. "Samuel Te Kani". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  11. "Why tough men find it hard to hug". Re. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  12. Kani, Samuel Te (2022-09-02). "Icon, artist, trailblazer: Lindah Lepou finally gets the recognition she deserves". Stuff. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  13. Davidson, Henry; Artspace (Auckland, N.Z.) (2015). Close your eyes with holy dread. ISBN 978-0-9941225-6-8. OCLC 929994058.
  14. Murtola, Anna-Maria; Walsh, Shannon (2020). Whose futures?. ISBN 978-0-473-54738-7. OCLC 1236459764.
  15. "Samuel Te Kani – Samesame But Different". Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  16. "NZ Poetry Day Interview: Sam Te Kani". Time Out Bookstore. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  17. "2022 NZ Young Writers Festival: Igniting Imaginations". Scoop News (Press release). Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  18. Magazine, Viva. "How Samuel Te Kani Makes It Work - Viva". www.viva.co.nz. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  19. "The Pleasures of Cross-Discipline Hybridity – EyeContact". eyecontactmagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  20. "95bFM Breakfast with Rachel: November 11, 2021". 95bFM. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  21. "Please, Call Me Jesus". Kete Books. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  22. "Loose Reads w/ Suri Reddy: November 15, 2021". 95bFM. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
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