The Bird in the Bird Dance
Russell Soaba

Forthcoming Spring 2026


In a collection of short stories spanning several decades from the 1970s onward, The Bird in the Bird Dance follows individuals confronted with uncertainty as they move across multiple worlds, unsure of how to reconcile them. Elders, students, civil servants, and wanderers appear in moments where cultural memory is recalled, questioned, or forgotten. Heavy downpours wash scenes away, sunlight reveals empty spaces, and radio broadcasts dissolve into disconnection. Rather than resolving these tensions, the writing refuses neat conclusions. The narratives portray lived histories as stories that do not end, so much as continue to “roll on”.

Existentialist in sensibility, Russell Soaba’s literary voice emerged during the years surrounding Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975. His work draws on the linguistic and cultural worlds of his country and its peoples, forging a literary language that intertwines English with Tok Ples (the Indigenous languages of Papua New Guinea). Throughout his work, moments of the ordinary and fragments of everyday life unfold, examining how individuals live under the sustained pressures, contradictions, and tensions of a world in transition.


Included within is a foreword by Nigel Krauth and an archival interview of Russell Soaba by Kirpal Singh. 





Title: The Bird in the Bird Dance
Size: 133 x 203 mm
Pages: 176
Binding: Flapped Paperback
Publication date: Spring 2026
Foreword: Nigel Krauth
Language: English
ISBN: 978-4-9914754-2-9
Printed and bound in Japan


Russell Soaba (b. 1950, Tototo, Milne Bay Province) is a Papua New Guinean novelist, poet and educator. Educated in Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the United States, he received an M.A. in Creative Writing from Brown University, where his thesis, Higher Dirge, was supervised by Michael S. Harper. His published works include the novels Wanpis (1977) and Maiba: A Novel of Papua New Guinea (1985), alongside works of poetry, plays, and collected writings: Naked Thoughts: Poems & Illustrations (1978), Kwamra, A Season Of Harvest: Poems (2000), Scattered by the Wind: A Play (2014), and Drôle d’oiseau (2025).  A central figure in the early years of the University of Papua New Guinea’s literary scene, he lectured in Literature & English Communication from 1982–2025. He is regarded as one of Papua New Guinea’s most prolific writers and an influential literary voice in Oceania. He lives in Port Moresby.

















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The Bird in the Bird Dance
Russell Soaba

Forthcoming Spring 2026




In a collection of short stories spanning several decades from the 1970s onward, The Bird in the Bird Dance follows individuals confronted with uncertainty as they move across multiple worlds, unsure of how to reconcile them. Elders, students, civil servants, and wanderers appear in moments where cultural memory is recalled, questioned, or forgotten. Heavy downpours wash scenes away, sunlight reveals empty spaces, and radio broadcasts dissolve into disconnection. Rather than resolving these tensions, the writing refuses neat conclusions. The narratives portray lived histories as stories that do not end, so much as continue to “roll on”

Existentialist in sensibility, Russell Soaba’s literary voice emerged during the years surrounding Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975. His work draws on the linguistic and cultural worlds of his country and its peoples, forging a literary language that intertwines English with Tok Ples (the Indigenous languages of Papua New Guinea). Throughout his work, moments of the ordinary and fragments of everyday life unfold, examining how individuals live under the sustained pressures, contradictions, and tensions of a world in transition.


Included within is a foreword by Nigel Krauth and an archival interview of Russell Soaba by Kirpal Singh.




Title: The Bird in the Bird Dance
Size: 133 x 203 mm
Pages: 176
Binding: Flapped Paperback
Publication date: Spring 2026
Foreword: Nigel Krauth
Language: English
ISBN: 978-4-9914754-2-9
Printed and bound in Japan




Russell Soaba (b. 1950, Tototo, Milne Bay Province) is a Papua New Guinean novelist, poet and educator. Educated in Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the United States, he received an M.A. in Creative Writing from Brown University, where his thesis, Higher Dirge, was supervised by Michael S. Harper. His published works include the novels Wanpis (1977) and Maiba: A Novel of Papua New Guinea (1985), alongside works of poetry, plays, and collected writings: Naked Thoughts: Poems & Illustrations (1978), Kwamra, A Season Of Harvest: Poems (2000), Scattered by the Wind: A Play (2014), and Drôle d’oiseau (2025).  A central figure in the early years of the University of Papua New Guinea’s literary scene, he lectured in Literature & English Communication from 1982–2025. He is regarded as one of Papua New Guinea’s most prolific writers and an influential literary voice in Oceania. He lives in Port Moresby.





CONTACTTERMS