The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke by Tina Makereti is historical fiction, based on a young Māori man who travels to London in 1846 to become a living exhibit. Stephanie Johnson's latest non-fiction is entitled West Island: Five Twentieth Century New Zealanders in Australia. Both books raise questions about identity and belonging – what we carry with us as we venture afar and what it takes to feel at home. Makereti and Johnson speak with Nic Low.