Leonie HaydenLeonie Hayden

Leonie Hayden (Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, Ngāti Rango) is the editor of Ātea, The Spinoff's Māori and indigenous content channel. She is the former editor of Mana magazine and Rip It Up magazine. Email her on leonie@thespinoff.co.nz

Where are all the Māori print journalists?

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All week the Spinoff Review of Books is examining and taking inspiration from A Moral Truth, an important new book about investigative journalism in New Zealand. Today: Former Mana editor Leonie Hayden, now of The Spinoff, considers the lack of Māori newspaper reporters. It’s alarming when you realise that the world is starting to be … Read more

All women want from you is money: A night with Chris Rock in Auckland

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Comedy megastar Chris Rock performed to a packed Spark Arena on Saturday. Like being yelled at by a rich man about controlling, manipulative, money-grabbing women? This was the show for you, writes Leonie Hayden. It’s a strange feeling to sit among a crowd of 10,000 guffawing people and not get the joke. When you’re as … Read more

The body, the past, and the present: Choreographer Tia Sagapolutele on Polynesian dance

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The Pacific Dance Festival, opening in Auckland tonight, brings rich and challenging expression to the stage. Leonie Hayden talks to dancer and choreographer Tia Sagapolutele. Artists are compelled to dismantle. The best of their generation are revered, reviled and remembered for being the most disruptive. But ambitious Māori and Pacific artists are eventually faced with the … Read more

Aaradhna, ‘urban’ music and the privilege of definitions

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Reflecting on Aaradhna’s speech at the New Zealand Music Awards and the subsequent media coverage, Mana editor Leonie Hayden reflects on language, race and how racism is covered in the media. Just listen. I’ll admit I laughed when I saw that Aaradhna had been given the same lazy headline as Efeso Collins after his family … Read more

The South Auckland Mayoral Debate Quiz: can you do better than our mayoral candidates?

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Yesterday morning five leading mayoral candidates headed to Mangere’s Ngā Whare Waatea to debate the issues facing South Auckland. Mana magazine editor Leonie Hayden was there. Throughout the debate, a pop quiz was held to test the candidates’ general knowledge of South Auckland. The only rules were: No referring the matter back to central government. No … Read more

‘I don’t know if half of them know where Mangere is’: The mayoral candidates head south, finally

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Yesterday morning five leading mayoral candidates – Goff, Swarbrick, Crone, Palino and Thomas – visited Mangere’s Ngā Whare Waatea to debate the issues facing South Auckland. Mana magazine editor Leonie Hayden was there. At 9.30am I arrived for the powhiri, as instructed, and waited at the entrance to be called on to Whare Waatea, the … Read more

After That ‘Dope’ Review, Is It Time For Rip it Up to Rest in Peace? An Ex-Editor Weighs In

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Leonie Hayden was editor of Rip It Up until its sale to Grant Hislop in 2013. She writes about the experience of watching a publication she once loved disappear from view – until it published an already-infamous review of the film Dope. Rip It Up has long been redundant as a pop cultural touchstone. Many will argue that has … Read more