HUMANS OF THE ISLANDS - MADELEINE CHAPMAN

Madeleine Chapman

Editor of The Spinoff

Samoan, Tuvaluan, Chinese, American

My father was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, smack bang in the middle of America. All the rest of his family still live over there. My Mum is Samoan, with a Tuvaluan father and Chinese grandfather, and grew up in Elisefou. I have nine siblings and we were all raised under one roof until I was about eight years old. Growing up was...loud. Home was never empty and if you were fighting with one sibling there was always another one in the next room who'd be nice to you.

Can you share a bit about your journey to becoming a writer?  Was it something you always knew you wanted to do?

I was a big reader as a kid, mainly because Mum hated the TV so reading was a safe alternative. It also looked like homework so I got out of doing housework sometimes if I was reading. But even then I didn't think I was much of a writer. It wasn't until I was finishing up my degree in Education at university that I realised I wanted to do something with writing. At first I wanted to work in publishing but I think that was me not being sure if I could write well enough to get published and so I just wanted to be nearby. 

You're currently a staff writer for the Spinoff and people can be ruthless in the online comments if they don't agree with you.  Have you had to deal with negativity like this and how do you deal with it?

I've certainly had a decent amount of negative comments on my stories but I don't think I've had to deal with much negativity because 99% of those comments come from people whose anger doesn't bother me. If someone whose opinion I respected really didn't like something I wrote, I'd stop and take in their thoughts, and that could be tough. But the random nasty comments from people I've never met and probably wouldn't want to meet...they're nothing. It's a waste of energy even thinking about it.

You've written Steven Adams biography 'My Life, My Fight' - how did that come about and when did you start working on it with him?  

I've known Steven for almost a decade now. When he found out that I was a writer, he put my name forward for the book. We had our first chats in the 2017 offseason (June) and last chat in November.

What was it like working on the book with Steven?  Did you know him well beforehand?  Did you ever get up to Oklahoma or was it all done during the off season?  

It had its ups and downs. He's a busy guy and has a lot on his mind during the season, which is when I was writing most of the chapters. Knowing him already helped a lot because it meant he didn't have to explain Wellington settings and communities to me, because I was part of them too. I did go to Oklahoma. Twice, actually. Between that and visiting relatives in Nebraska, I must be the only New Zealander to exclusively travel to the boring states of America.

Is it your first biography and first book?  What was the process like and was it nerve wracking having your first project be on someone world famous?

First biography, first book, first piece of writing over 5000 words. It's hard to look at the process as a whole because everything was new for me and I was learning as I went. I'm someone who leaves things to the last minute more than I should, and though I knew I couldn't do this overnight like a uni essay, I didn't suddenly become an organised writer. I don't think the subject really made a difference, actually. An interesting story is an interesting story, which is what helped a lot. It just so happens that Steven is famous. In saying that, the reviews haven't been written yet so I'll leave some space here to add a correction later.

When does the book come out and where can people buy it?  Order it?  

The book will be available in New Zealand and Australia on Monday July 30th. I'm pretty sure it's on Amazon as an e-book. And if you google the title, it'll come up with online shopping options.

What do you have coming up besides the book?

Staff writer at The Spinoff is my fulltime job so I'll be over there causing trouble. Occasionally I might appear on The Spinoff TV, probably embarrassing myself, which you can catch every Friday at 10:45pm on Three.

How has your upbringing & culture shaped you into the woman you are today?

Everything I do now is a result of how I was raised, both by my parents and alongside my siblings. My work ethic is pretty good compared to most people's but I always thought I was lazy because compared to my mum and my aunties, everyone's lazy. I was always told that if I was going to do something, Growing up with siblings and just the right amount of dysfunction taught me to find the humour in everything, especially stressful times, because the funniest stories to tell are the ones that, when they actually happened, you were probably crying. 

Having a lot of older siblings taught me to think hard about what I say before I say it. If you say something dumb in front of your siblings, it takes a long time for them to forget it. So I spent a lot of my childhood thinking of good comebacks and remarks but then being too scared to say them. Which probably explains why I like writing. Carrying on from that, I now know when to let something go. The only thing worse than saying something and getting mocked by all your siblings is saying something, getting mocked, trying to defend yourself, and then getting mocked even more. I like to think I know when it's not worth the effort to argue, and that's probably why I am perfectly happy reading all the comments, even the bad ones.

As far as culture, my immediate family lived in a predominantly white neighbourhood and didn't experience much of the Samoan culture outside of our home. So for me, my culture is my family, including the endless cousins. My culture is me moving to Auckland and immediately becoming very close with cousins I only ever saw once a year growing up. My culture is feeling a tiny bit guilty leaving the office while others are still working because I grew up learning that if there's work to be done, everyone does it until it's finished. And my culture is knowing that even though I have fair skin, rudimentary Samoan, and a white name, I represent the Samoan community with pride every time my writing is published.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My mum. There are too many reasons to list so I'll give one example. I have spent many, many days doing work with my mum, whether it be gardening, painting, demolishing, or building. And not once – I mean this literally – has my mum stopped working before me. And that's not because I finish early. I finish on time. My mum finishes when it's not possible for her to keep going. When I was at college I'd sometimes spend weekends with my parents at a rental property, doing renovations. The properties were always empty, freezing, and quite gross. But Mum would always want to stay overnight instead of coming home when it got dark. Why? "It's a forty minute drive home. And then back. That's 80 extra minutes we could be working." No one ever wanted to sleep in a sleeping bag on the wooden floor with her so I would. We'd continue working well into the night then have a cup of noodles and a Milo before bed. In the morning I'd always wake up to the sounds of Mum already working. Adopting my Mum's willingness to sleep on a freezing wooden floor for the good of the cause has served me better in my short career than anything I've learned anywhere else.