community. Grace is also co-founder of several programs that promote arts within the community – the South Auckland Poets Collective (SAPC), Niu Navigations and the Rising Voices Youth Poetry Movement. If that isn’t a long enough list, Grace was one of the inspirational speakers at the TedxAuckland symposium and she toured Edinburgh through the NZ at Edinburgh 2014 season at the International Scottish Storytelling Festival.
At the centre of Grace’s practice is a genuine love for community. Through teaching, she helps others to find their personal voice, insisting that storytelling is an accessible and universal tool for empowerment. Grace’s own written poetry is open and autobiographical, inviting the audience to know her more intimately. Her spoken word performances are even more intimate, combining heart and soul with words.
Much of Grace’s writing practice is influenced by her upbringing as a Afakasi Samoan and English woman. Grace’s debut collection of poetry, Afakasi Speaks, released in 2013, looks at the ever-ambiguous Afakasi identity. The works explore the perspective of Afakasi, who teeter between brown and white skin, and what this ethnic and cultural combination means for their place in society. Afakasi are often unsure of where they belong, literally sitting between two cultures with their bi-racial backgrounds. Afakasi Speaks has gained major critical acclaim, even being the central inspiration for 2015 contemporary dance sensation titled MOTHER/JAW choreographed by Jahra ‘Rager’ Wasasala and Grace Woollett.  Â
Grace’s work includes writing and performing her theatre show with Auckland Theatre Company My Own Darling, Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland, 2015; Skin, Auckland Theatre Company, 2014; NZ at Edinburgh, International Scottish Storytelling Festival, Edinburgh, 2014 and TEDxAuckland, Aotea Centre, Auckland, 2013. Grace’s published work includes Afakasi Speaks, ALA Press, Hawaii, 2013 and FULL BROKEN BLOOM, 2016.