Pip Desmond

ABOUT

In Brief

Pip Desmond’s book Trust: A True Story of Women and Gangs won the Best First Book of Non-Fiction in the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards. It is based on Pip’s experiences as a member of Aroha Trust, a work cooperative for young gang women in Wellington in the late 1970s. Woven through the book are the life stories of 11 of the women, recorded by Pip 20 years later. In spite of its difficult subject matter, Trust contains a strong message of hope, resilience and the importance of second chances. The NZ Post judging panel described it as ‘an extraordinary work from someone with unparalleled and probably unrepeatable access to women in gangs’, and ‘a potent combination of oral history and memoir’ that ‘packs a powerful punch’. Pip is currently gathering and writing the stories of 12 New Zealand veterans of the Korean War, using oral history techniques, for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. These men are all in their eighties. A book of their experiences, along with photos, will be published in 2012.

Pip was born in Dunedin and comes from mainly Irish stock.

In Detail

Pip Desmond was born in 1955. In 1977, Pip helped set up Aroha Trust, a work cooperative for young, mainly Maori women in the Wellington gang scene. For three years, this unique, unruly group of girls banded together to find meaningful work, safe housing, a sense of belonging and people who cared – things all young people need.

Trust: A True Story of Women and Gangs is the account of Aroha Trust told through Pip’s eyes as a young, middle-class Pakeha, fresh out of university. As the story unfolds, a number of themes are explored: clothing and tattoos; group dynamics and decision-making; drugs and alcohol; rape, sexual abuse and violence (both male and female); racism and inequality; the power of collective action.

Trust documents a unique organisation during a remarkable period of New Zealand’s social history: the heady years of feminism, community activism and the first stirrings of the Maori renaissance. As life-time gang member Denis O’Reilly says: ‘These were the women who challenged the Black Power over our attitudes to rape, and, who, at the end of the day were responsible for a change in gang behaviour, nationally.’ 

Woven throughout the book are 11 of the women’s life stories, recorded by Pip 20 years later. They reach back into childhoods of neglect and abuse, as street kids and state wards, and forward to the present day, including the women’s efforts to heal, search for cultural identity, and provide a better life for their own children. Much of this testimony is in their own words, compelling in its honesty and courage.

In spite of its difficult subject matter, Trust contains a strong message of hope, resilience and the importance of second chances. Today, many of the women are living in relationships free of violence, have hard-earned qualifications and are working to help others.

Trust won the Best First Book of Non-Fiction in the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards.  The judging panel described it as ‘a potent combination of oral history and memoir’ that ‘packs a powerful punch’. Convenor Stephen Stratford said, ‘I don't think anyone will again be in a position to write a book with such inside knowledge of what the life is like. She’s known these women for years and they obviously trust her a lot and shared things with her they wouldn’t with anyone else, so it’s a real one of a kind, this book.’

 A freelance writer and oral historian, Pip has spent most of her adult life working in the community sector. From 2000 to 2005, she was a parliamentary press secretary and political advisor. In 2006, she wrote the first draft of Trust while doing her MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University, winning a scholarship for her work.

Pip comes from Irish stock, with a dash of German and Scottish. She was born in Dunedin and lives in Wellington, where she is married with three children and three beautiful grandchildren.