Broken Journey - The Life and Art of JC Sturm
- Documentary
- Arts/Culture
JC Sturm (also known as Jacquie Baxter) was an author and poet whose career was overshadowed by her famous spouse, and societal forces that sidelined women writers — especially Māori writers. Mixing English and te reo, this documentary follows Sturm from her 1927 birth in Ōpunake to her renaissance as a writer, which marked the 'missing link' between an old New Zealand literary tradition and a new Māori voice. Sturm talks about struggling to break through as a Māori woman fostered by Pākehā and living in that system. Witi Ihimaera calls her late acclaim an "accident of timing", as she was an early pioneer.
Press release on this film, Scoop, September 2007
Biography of JC Sturm, plus a rediscovered early poem, The Spinoff, June 2021
Profile by JC Sturm's literary executor Paul Millar, Te Ara website
Obituary of JC Sturm by Paul Millar, NZ Review of Books, Winter 2010
Read NZ / Te Pou Maramara profile of JC Sturm
Profile of JC Sturm's daughter Hilary Baxter, Paekākariki website, March 2021








