Leki Jackson-Bourke

{{Short description|Pasifika playwright}}

{{notability|1=Biographies|date=October 2022}}

Leki Jackson-Bourke (born c. 1993) is a playwright based out of Auckland and is the first Pasifika playwright to win the Creative New Zealand Todd New Writer's Bursary Grant in 2018.{{Cite web |last=Downs |first=Sarah |date=4 January 2019 |title=The New Voice: Meet Playwright Leki Jackson-Bourke - Viva |url=https://www.viva.co.nz/article/culture-travel/pasifika-playwright-leki-jackson-bourke/#:~:text=He%20was%20the%20first%20Pasifika,at%20just%2026%20years%20old. |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=www.viva.co.nz |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Christian |first=Dionne |date=23 January 2018 |title=Pasifika playwright Jackson-Bourke aims to build on success |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/pasifika-playwright-jackson-bourke-aims-to-build-on-success/RPZURXK6QS4H4JEMAIGIT3PZZY/ |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=NZ Herald |language=en-NZ}}{{Cite web |title=Arts Pasifika Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in Pacific Arts |url=https://creativenz.govt.nz/News-and-blog/2022/06/15/02/26/17/Arts-Pasifika-Awards-celebrate-excellence-and-innovation-in-Pacific-Arts |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=creativenz.govt.nz |language=en}}

Bourke is of Tongan-Niuean-Samoan ethnicity. In his youth, Bourke attended Marcellin College.{{Cite web |title=Artist reclaims and reframes Pacific narrative |url=https://www.mpp.govt.nz/news-and-events/2019/artwork-reclaims-and-reframes-pacific-narrative/ |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=Ministry for Pacific Peoples |language=en-US}} Bourke then went to the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts and was pursuing a Bachelor in Pacific Performing Arts.{{Cite web |title=Meet the Fakas {{!}} Te Oro |url=https://teoro.org.nz/theatre/meet-the-fakas |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=teoro.org.nz}}

Bourke co-authored the play Inky Pinky Ponky with Amanaki Prescott-Faletau in 2015 and the play was published in 2017 in Talanoa: Four Pacific Plays, an anthology of four Pacific plays by Pasifika New Zealand Playwrights.{{Cite web |last= |date=19 June 2017 |title=Teenage Pacific Transgender featured in The Talano Series {{!}} Scoop News |url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1706/S00303/teenage-pacific-transgender-featured-in-the-talano-series.htm |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=www.scoop.co.nz}} In 2021, NZ on Air gave funding to Tikilounge Productions to make Inky Pinky Ponky into a series for Māori Television.{{Cite web |title=Drama reflecting different perspectives on Aotearoa – latest NZ On Air funding |url=https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/drama-reflecting-different-perspectives-on-aotearoa-latest-nz-on-air-funding/ |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=www.nzonair.govt.nz |language=en}}

In 2017, Bourke won the Auckland Theatre Award for producing Maree Webster's Niuean parody Meet the Fakas where he was also named as one of the Outstanding Newcomers, along with Julie Zhu and Bronwyn Ensor.{{Cite web |title=New Zealand Theatre: theatre reviews, performance reviews - Theatreview |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/news/news.php?id=1604 |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=www.theatreview.org.nz}} Meet the Fakas was awarded the Te Pou Theatre Award for Best Show Not Made by Pakeha (or Dirty D Word Award). In 2018, Bourke was awarded the Emerging Pacific Artist Award and $5,000 for the 2018 Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards. In 2019, Bourke was the first Victoria University Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence Award.{{Cite web |title=Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence {{!}} International Institute of Modern Letters {{!}} Victoria University of Wellington |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletters/about/emerging-pasifika-writer-in-residence |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=www.wgtn.ac.nz}} He wrote the play The Gangster's Paradise, which was selected as a joint winner in the teenage category for Playmarket New Zealand's 2019 Plays for the Young Competition along with Aroha Awarau's A Gaggle of Ducks .{{Cite web |date=3 September 2019 |title=New Zealand Theatre: theatre reviews, performance reviews - Theatreview |url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/news/news.php?id=1679 |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=www.theatreview.org.nz}} Bourke was also interviewed by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples about his journey as an artist the influence Niuean culture has on his work for 2019's and 2021's Niue Language Week.{{Cite web |title=Songwriter and choreographer Leki Jackson-Bourke talks to us for Niue Language Week 2021 |url=https://digitalnz.org/records/45935745 |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=DigitalNZ |language=en}}

Bourke did a placement at Q Theatre and Auckland Theatre Company through the TAUTAI Contemporary Pasifika Arts Pasifika internship programme.{{Cite web |title=HUMANS OF THE ISLANDS - LEKI JACKSON BOURKE |url=https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/humans-of-the-islands/humans-of-the-islands-leki-jackson-bourke/ |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=The Coconet TV}} His most recent success was winning the 2024 Bruce Mason Playwright of The Year Award by Playmarket.