Christodoulos Moisa

Early life

Moisa was born in 1948 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. His parents were immigrants from Cyprus. His father was Evangelos Georgiou Moisa from Marathovounos and his mother was Athena Kleanthi from Angastina two villages in central Cyprus.

Background

Moisa was educated at Patriki and Angastina Primary Schools in Cyprus, Mount Cook Primary School, Wellington (1960–1962), Wellington College (1963–1967), and Victoria University of Wellington and University of Auckland in New Zealand. He attended the Sir John School of Art London in 1973 and The Quay School of the Arts at UCOL, Whanganui, New Zealand in 2002. At The Quay School of the Arts he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts which he started at Auckland University in 1972, in print-making. From 1954 to 1959 he lived in Varosia/Famagusta a provincial capital in eastern Cyprus and the villages of Patriki and Angastina. He also lived in Angastina 18 months before 1974 coup and Turkish invasion.

Poetry and art

He was awarded the National Poetry Prize at the Te Awamutu Rose Festival in 1981, the Queen Elizabeth the II Arts Council Fellowship in 1983, and the Whitirea Poetry Prize in 1991 for his long poem "In the Shadow of the Cathedral".

During his Queen Elizabeth the II Arts Council fellowship tenure he trialled a scheme whereby the arts would be taught to people who were unlikely to receive such training. Moisa taught poetry at Dunedin's Crippled Children Society. This scheme eventually lead to the Arts in Prisons Scheme. In the seventies Moisa as a volunteer, taught art to inmates at Mount Eden Prison, in Auckland.

He is the owner/manager/editor of One Eyed Press which has published the poetry of New Zealand poets among them Iain Sharp,Win Jones and Peter Olds. To date Moisa has published seven of his own books of poems also under the One Eyed Press imprint.

In 2002 Moisa was the recipient of a Ministry of Education Teachers Fellowship which he used to complete his BFA. In 2006 he was the Winner of the Telecom Art Contest for Whanganui. He has had nine one person exhibitions and participated in a number of group shows. Moisa has read his poetry throughout New Zealand and in Germany and Cyprus. He was an Executive member of the New Zealand Branch of PEN, now New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN New Zealand Inc.), in the 1980s and was the founder of the Dunedin and Christchurch branches.

Moisa has also written for Te Ara (New Zealand National Library's online encyclopaedia). He has written a series of essays like: In 2004 Moisa launched the Whanganui Inter Secondary Schools Portrait Competition to promote the talent of young secondary school artists in the Whanganui region. It is now in its eighth year.

Political and social activist

As a political activist Moisa demonstrated with other university students against the war in Vietnam and later on the occupation of Timor and Cyprus. He also took part in the demonstrations against the 1981 South African Springbok Rugby Tour. As a social activist and Chairperson of the Newton branch of the Grey Lynn, Westmere, Newton Community Committee, in the late 1970s Moisa led in Auckland a campaign against lead in petrol and with architect, university lecturer and Cheer Part-Up Party leader, Vince Terrini, established Flash, one of the precursors to all the Auckland community newspapers. At the same time he also led a campaign to stop the extension of upper Queen Street – the city's main street – to Dominion Rd. He won a case against the Auckland City Council in the Town Planning Court and as a result the north facing Basque Park has remained a peaceful residential haven.

In 2011 Moisa wrote a brief history of his mother's village in Cyprus and designed and compiled a website to ensure that its history will outlive the Turkish occupation. The site is called Angastina – The village of the lotus eaters.

In 2013 Moisa's first book of short stories was published. Blood and Koka Kola. It includes four illustrations and 24 short stories.

In January 2016, Moisa's first novel The Hour of the Grey Wolf was published followed by a second "Overcast Sunday" in June 2016.

Books of poems

Short stories

Novel

CRITICS COMMENTS:"The writing style can best be described as erudite with allusions to historical and Biblical events. In less fluent writer, these descriptions would slow the story down but this is not the case ... The book remains fast moving, while giving the reader the satisfaction of having read a novel of substance and at the same time enjoying trying to second guess the mystery murder element. I recommend it." The Hour of the Grey Wolf is a crime story ... in many ways it defies the genre. It is literary fiction as well, experimental in form, so experimental that, simply linked together with logic, the parts should not work together to form that coherent whole. And yet they do. ... a compelling page turner, a classic whodunit. ... I kept turning the pages and am certain other readers will too. The overall effect of The Hour of the Grey Wolf cannot be denied: the setting and characters are still resonating with me ..."

CRITICS COMMENTS: "While the main story is sufficient to hold your interest, it is embellished with a cultural richness that sets it apart from just another “Who-dunnit“ ... The cleverly devised plot will keep you intrigued right through to the end ... For those of us familiar with Wellington during the 1950s’s “Overcast Sunday” will evoke a few memories of a time and lifestyle that no longer exists. The title itself belongs to a song, a type of blues music in keeping with the sentiments of love, joy and sorrow and particularly poignant for immigrants far from their homeland. The book gives examples of the hardships, hopes and dashed dreams which marked their lives and the reasons for moving to New Zealand. Like all immigrants they found it to be no promised land and this informs and colours the book as various incidents are woven into the plot ..." Marion Davidson RIVER CITY PRESS 17 November 2016.

"This is not your average crime novel, in fact, although the story features a crime- a murder – it is a story of a place, a time, and the characters who converge on both. It is about people and the stories they bring to the Greek community in Wellington 1950. The story opens with ... Chris Moisa has written a fine story, crafted in such a way that may irritate and impatient reader, but rich in knowledge and understanding of the community in which the book is centred, and the forces that bring everything together at that point. The reader learns a lot and becomes intimately engaged with each character, their lives laid bare for us in the book’s unusual configuration. The author captured the time, the economics, politics and social ambiance of New Zealand in 1950, with the Greek community the focus of his attention. The story is not for me to tell but I really enjoyed it. The book is not laid out in a traditional format, and what I see it has challenged the odd critic. I found it enhanced the yarn Chris tells. I have read other works by Chris Moisa and I like his originality and storytelling skill. This latest book is a valuable addition to the repertoire of a superb writer. Overcast Sunday was nominated for the prestigious Ngaio Marsh Award. Paul Brooks Midweek - Herald - 17 May 2017

Currently Moisa lives in Whanganui and works as a novelist, artist, photographer. He was HOD of The Arts and HOD of the Visual Arts at a Whanganui College since 2003-14.