Papua New Guinean Writers Finding Paths Through Limitation

The first writing that began in China was carved out of turtle shell, according to the Chinese Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Zhengjun Li, with whom I conversed during the relaunch of the 2005 National Literature Competition in Port Moresby last year. Long before knowing Ambassador Zhengjun Li I was aware, like many of my fellow Papua New Guinean writers, about the power of writing as a liberational tool as expressed in Chairman Mao’s famous line: ‘the power of words is mightier than the sword’.