Qualitative Studies  
Vol. 8, No. 1, 2023, pp. 16-22 

ISSN 1903-7031  

 

 

Collaborating off the beaten track 

Selina Tusitala Marsh & Helen Sword1 

 

1 Centre for Arts and Social Transformation, 

University of Auckland / Waipapa Taumata Rau 

Aotearoa New Zealand 

 

 

Writing off the beaten track requires confidence, courage, and chutzpah.  Collaborating off the beaten track 
requires something more: trust, for a start, not to mention flexibility, respect, a robust sense of humour, and 

an appetite for intellectual risk-taking. Join us as we revisit some memorable moments from the off-piste 

collaboration of a book author (Helen) and an illustrator (Selina) who also happen to be colleagues, co-

mentors, and friends. The title and topic of Helen’s book, Writing with Pleasure, became the modus operandi 

of our collaborative process as we negotiated the challenges and rewards of venturing into new territory 

together. Like the forty illustrated panels that we co-produced for the book, these storyboarded scenes 

confound academic conventions and resist easy explication. Instead, they “gesture toward, lean into, sport 

with, learn from, dance around, and laugh about” (Sword, 2023, p. ii) the themes that they address: from 

shadowy sharks to unexpected treasures; from structural designs to serendipitous discovery; from imposter 

syndrome to creative confidence; and from surprise to delight.  

 
Keywords: collaboration, illustration, convention, imposter syndrome, pleasure 

 

 



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S. T. Marsh & H. Sword: Collaborating off the beaten track 

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References 

Sword, H. (2023). Writing with pleasure. Illustrated by Selina Tusitala Marsh. Princeton and  

Oxford: Princeton University Press.