[8] In July 2022, a review of Echidna by Nicholas Reid, published in the New Zealand Listener and in longer form on his personal blog, was criticised by poet Lily Holloway as transphobic and a "deliberately harmful display of ignorance".
Holloway opened a petition calling for Reid to be prevented from reviewing any further works by queer writers for the Listener, which attracted over 400 signatures.
[9] The Spinoff published a series of tributes to ranapiri in response to the controversy, with contributions from Hinemoana Baker, Chris Tse and other New Zealand writers.
[11] They described the work as the result of trying to free themself from "the loaded meaning of language that is always present in poetry", while using the colours representing tino rangatiratanga.
[12] Ranapiri's work has appeared in Out Here: An Anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ Writers from Aotearoa, The Spinoff, Starling, Landfall, Ōrongohau: Best New Zealand Poems, Sport and other publications.