Indigenous Envoy: The Māori writer as New Zealand practitioner and indigenous artisan
Taiwhanga Kawhau Auditorium, lower ground floor, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, Molesworth St, Thorndon
Witi will speak at 6.00pm.
Following the Lecture, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Witi’s ground-breaking novel, Tangi, with the launch of a new edition.
Witi Ihimaera is an influential figure in New Zealand Literature. Over his long career he has won numerous awards for both fiction and non-fiction.
Witi was the first Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories, Pounamu, Pounamu, in 1972 and the first to publish a novel, Tangi, in 1973. His immensely popular novel, TheWhale Rider, has been read widely by children and adults both in New Zealand and overseas and adapted into a critically acclaimed 2002 film.Witi Ihimaera was Professor of English and Distinguished Creative Fellow in Māori Literature at University of Auckland until 2010.
His first memoir, Māori Boy: A Memory of Childhood won the Ockham Book Award for non-fiction in 2015 and was followed by Native Son: The Writers Memoir.
In 2017 Witi received a Prime Minister’s Award for fiction. he is the current President of Honour of the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa.
Witi Ihimaera’s work has been recognised by a Premio Ostana and a Chevalier Des Arts et Lettres. His work has been a set text in Africa and The Whale Rider is currently the subject of a Big Read at Gutenberg University, Germany and honoured text at the IRSCL Ecologies of Childhood Congress, USA, later this year.
