Emele Ugavule is a Tokelauan, Uvean, and Fijian storyteller. A graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), and Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa: NZ Drama School she has worked with various artists and organisations across the Pacific including Sydney Opera House, Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies, Netflix and Mad Ones Films and Sony Australia.

Her work centres on Indigenous Oceanic storytelling, exploring themes of temporality, memory, kinship, technology and knowledge transmission.

She is a founding member of Studio Kiin, an Indigenous-led creative studio and collective, served as the Creative Director of Talanoa, a platform dedicated to Oceanic digital storytelling, and is represented by Liberty Artist Management. In her commitment to community focused platforms, she curates and produces Melanesian Arts Symposium, Tok Talanoa and Tadra Vata, a literary series that exists within festivals.

Emele has tutored at the WAAPA and NIDA and currently she is a Kaitātaki Whakaari at Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa: NZ Drama School.

Photo: Richmond Kobla