Witi Ihimaera
Witi Ihimaera DCNZM QSM | |
---|---|
![]() Ihimaera in November 2015 | |
Born | Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler 7 February 1944 Gisborne, New Zealand |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | English, Māori |
Nationality | New Zealander |
Education | Victoria University of Wellington, BA, 1971 |
Children | 2 |
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Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler DCNZM QSM (born 7 February 1944), generally known as Witi Ihimaera /ˈwɪti ɪhiˈmaɪrə/, is a New Zealand author. He was the first Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories, with Pounamu, Pounamu (1972), and the first to publish a novel, with Tangi (1973). His work explores Māori culture and issues within contemporary New Zealand society. He has said that "Māori culture is the taonga, the treasure vault from which I source my inspiration".[1]
He is a prolific and award-winning writer, with his considerable body of work including, notably The Whale Rider (1987), which was adapted into a critically acclaimed film of the same name in 2002, Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies (1994), which was adapted into the 2016 film Mahana, and Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1996), which was adapted into the 2010 film Kawa. He has published two volumes of his memoirs: Māori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood (2014) and Native Son: The Writer's Memoir (2019). He has won numerous awards and fellowships including multiple wins at the New Zealand Book Awards spanning the period 1973 to 2016, the Robert Burns Fellowship (1975), the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship (1993), and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (2017).
Early life and education[]
Ihimaera was born in Gisborne, a city in the east of New Zealand's North Island and is of Māori descent (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki). He has affiliations to Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, and Whakatōhea.[2][3][4] He also has Scottish ancestry through both parents.[5] His family marae is Te Rongopai Marae in Waituhi, and he grew up in Waituhi.[2] Many of his stories are set in a fictional recreation of Waituhi. He began writing at a young age, and in later life recounted writing stories on the wall of his childhood bedroom.[2]
He attended Te Karaka District High School for three years followed by a year at the Church College of New Zealand in Temple View, Hamilton, after which he completed his final year of schooling at Gisborne Boys' High School.[2] He has said that he became interested in writing when he was fifteen and realised that Māori did not feature in the books he read. He then read an anthology which included a short story about Māori written by a Pākehā writer, which was "so poisonous" that he threw the book out of the window. He was caned for doing so, and said that "the two things—the invisibilisation or sidelining of my culture plus the punishment for recognising it—made me vow that, bugger it, I was going to be a Māori writer whether people liked it or not".[1]
After high school, Ihimaera attended the University of Auckland for three years, from 1963 to 1966, but did not complete his degree, and returned to Gisborne where he became a cadet journalist for the Gisborne Herald. He subsequently became a postman, moved to Wellington and started studying part-time at Victoria University of Wellington, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in 1971.[2]
Career[]
Early career: 1960s and 1970s[]
Ihimaera began writing seriously in 1969, around age 25, and had his first short story "The Liar" accepted for publication by the New Zealand Listener magazine in May 1970.[2] His first book, Pounamu Pounamu (1972), was a collection of short stories, which was awarded third prize at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1973.[6] Ihimaera has said it was rejected by three publishers before being accepted by the fourth.[7] His first two novels were published in quick succession: Tangi (1973), which won first prize at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1974,[8] and Whanau (1974), which told the story of a day in the life of a Māori village.[2][3] He was the first Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories and the first to publish a novel.[9][10]
Norman Kirk, then the prime minister of New Zealand, read Pounamu Pounamu and arranged for Ihimaera to be employed as a writer at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1973 onwards.[2] During his career he wrote a non-fiction work called Māori (1975), later adapted into a short film of the same name in 1981, although he felt the final film was a propaganda exercise that bore little resemblance to his written work.[2][3][11] He subsequently worked as a diplomat with posts in Canberra, New York City, and Washington, D.C.[2] He worked at the Ministry until 1989, apart from brief breaks to take up the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1975 and a Victoria University of Wellington writing fellowship in 1982.[2][10]
Beginning in 1975, Ihimaera stopped his own creative writing for a ten-year period, due to his belief that it was "tragically out of date" and a wish not to have it seen as the "definitive portrayal of the world of the Maori".[2] He instead began working on the anthology Into the World of Light (1982) together with his co-editor . The anthology collected the work of 39 Māori writers. In Ihimaera and Long's introduction, they said that Māori oral tradition formed the context for Māori literature, and observed that the apparent lack of Māori writing in the mid-20th century was due to publishers' reluctance to publish books by Māori writers because of a belief that Māori "don't read books". The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature described the collected works as being "of a uniformly high standard", and Graham Wiremu writing in the New Zealand Listener called the anthology "prodigious and powerful".[12]
Return to writing: 1980s and 1990s[]
When Ihimaera began writing again, he wrote The Matriarch (1986) which examined the impacts of European colonialisation on Maori,[3] and which again received first prize at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards.[13] He also wrote a libretto for an opera by , based on his second novel Whanau, and Dear Miss Mansfield (1989), a rewriting of Katherine Mansfield's short stories from a Māori perspective, in response to celebrations of 100 years since her birth. The collection was well-received overseas but criticised by New Zealand reviewers for a perceived lack of respect for Mansfield.[2][14]
In a three-week period Ihimaera wrote his best-known work (1987), the story of a young girl becoming a leader of her people.[2][14] It has been reprinted many times and was adapted into the critically acclaimed film of the same name in 2002.[3] It won the Nielsen BookData New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award in 2003.[15][3] It was published and read internationally; Kirkus Reviews described it as a "luminous joining of myth and contemporary culture".[16]
In 1990, he became a lecturer in the English department at the University of Auckland, and later became Professor of English and Distinguished Creative Fellow in Māori Literature, until 2010.[17][3] He was awarded a Scholarship in Letters in 1991. In 1993 he received the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship which allowed him to work in Menton, France for a period, where he wrote his next two novels: Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies (1994) and Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1996).[2][18] Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies was awarded the prize for Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 1995.[19] It was described in The Dominion Post as "a rollicking good yarn about Maori rural life in the 1950s",[18] and Ihimaera himself has said he was intending to write a Māori Western.[2] The novel was adapted into the 2016 film Mahana by Lee Tamahori (released as The Patriarch outside of New Zealand).[3]
In 1996 he published Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a semi-autobiographical novel about a man coming out. Like Ihimaera, the main character was married with two daughters, but unlike Ihimaera the main character was Pākehā (European). Ihimaera had come out to himself in 1984 and began the work, but out of sensitivity to his daughters, did not finish or publish it then.[4][20] The novel was described by scholar as featuring "conflict, growth and reconciliation, with subplots heroic, political and tragic". Robinson said it was "no small achievement to take this material off the grubby walls of public toilets, free it from sleaze, write it with vivid passion and through it affirm and celebrate a way of life of which most of us know almost nothing".[21] In a review for The Dominion Post, Gavin McLean described it as Ihimaera's best book to date, and noted that much of the book's impact came from the intensity of the main character's relationship with his parents and his "desperate need to do better by his children"; "Unlike characters in many similar novels, coming out does not mean discarding all one's past."[18] In 2010, it was adapted into the film Kawa by director Katie Wolfe. The central character was changed from Pākehā to Māori businessman Kawa, played by Calvin Tuteao.[22] In an article in The Sunday Star Times, Ihimaera was quoted as saying the change "was quite a shock to me because I had always tried to hide, to say 'this is a book that could be about "everyman", this is not a specific story'. So [the film] is now actually nearer to the truth than I would like to admit."[23]
A decade after his anthology Into the World of Light (1982), Ihimaera edited the five-volume bilingual anthology of Māori writing, Te Ao Maramara ("the world of light"), published between 1992 to 1996.[3] It represented the most comprehensive collection of writing by Māori that had ever been published at that time.[24] In 1997 he published The Dream Swimmer, a sequel to his 1986 novel The Matriarch.[14] That same year, Mataora, The Living Face: Contemporary Māori Artists, which he co-edited with Sandy Adsett and Cliff Whiting, received the Montana Award for Illustrative Arts at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.[25] His poem "O numi tutelar" was recited at the dawn opening of the British Museum's long-awaited 'Maori' Exhibition in 1998.[26]
Later career: 2000 onwards[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Witi_Ihimaera.jpg/220px-Witi_Ihimaera.jpg)
In the early 2000s Ihimaera published Woman Far Walking (2000), a play from the perspective of an elder Māori woman who has witnessed key historic events and who Ihimaera describes as the personification of the Treaty of Waitangi.[14][1] He also published The Uncle's Story (2000), a love story about two generations of gay Māori men, children's picture book The Little Kowhai Tree (2002) (illustrated by ), and the novel Sky Dancer (2003), featuring Māori myths with contemporary characters.[3][14] Sky Dancer was shortlisted for Best Book in the South Pacific & South East Asian Region of the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.[14] In 2004, he published Whanau II, which featured the characters of his second novel Whanau (1974), and which was subsequently published in London under the title Band of Angels (2005). His novella "The Halcyon Summer" was published in Nine New Zealand Novellas (2005), edited by Peter Simpson.[14] The Rope of Man was published in 2005, which featured both a revised version of his first novel Tangi (1973) and a new sequel The Return. His short story collection Ask at the Posts of the House (2007) was longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and one of the novellas included in that collection was adapted into the 2013 film White Lies.[3][14] In 2003, and again in 2009, Penguin New Zealand published His Best Stories, a collection of twenty-four stories selected by Ihimaera.[14]
In 2009, Ihimaera published The Trowenna Sea, a historical novel about the early history of Tasmania. At the time, he planned to write a trilogy.[27] Shortly after publication, book reviewer detected short passages from other writers, especially from historical sources, used without acknowledgement.[28][29] Confronted by The Listener magazine with this evidence, Ihimaera apologised for not acknowledging the passages, said the omission was inadvertent and negligent, and pointed to many pages of other sources that he had acknowledged.[30] The University of Auckland investigated the incident and ruled that Ihimaera's actions did not constitute misconduct in research, as the actions did not appear to be deliberate and Ihimaera had apologised.[31] Ihimaera removed the book from public sale, purchasing the remaining stock himself. A revised edition, with fuller acknowledgements, originally planned for 2010, was subsequently cancelled, with no reasons given for the decision.[32]
His twelfth novel, The Parihaka Woman (2011), featured elements of the opera Fidelio and the history of Parihaka and the campaign of non-violent resistance.[3] Michael O'Leary, writing in the online edition of Landfall, called it an "intriguing and significant, if somewhat flawed, work"; he praised the novel's efforts to tackle the horrific events at Parihaka in the late nineteenth century, and the demonstration of the rich cultural life of Māori in that period, but also noted some issues in the detail of Ihimaera's use of Māori lore and in historical accuracies.[33] Reviewers for the Sunday Star-Times, Otago Daily Times and The New Zealand Herald were more negative, and all noted Ihimaera's use of an amateur historian as narrator; they noted that this device allowed him to add numerous citations and references, and avoid any further accusations of plagarism, but detracted from the quality of the writing.[34][35][36] It was followed by the short-story collection The Thrill of Falling (2012), in which Ihimaera explored a range of genres including contemporary comedy and science fiction.[14]
Māori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood (2014) was the first instalment of Ihimaera's memoirs, and recorded experiences from his childhood up till his teenage years. It received the award for General Non-Fiction at the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[37] The second instalment, Native Son: A Writer's Memoir was published in 2019, and covers his early adult years in the 1960s and 1970s and how he became a published writer. After finishing Native Son, he decided to take a four-year break from writing, but ended up instead writing Navigating the Stars: Māori Creation Myths (2020), a modern re-telling of traditional Maori legends.[38][39] Ihimaera wrote the script for a stage show adaptation of Navigating the Stars, produced by theatre company Taki Rua, which was performed at the Soundshell in the Wellington Botanic Garden in early 2021.[40]
Legacy[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Witi_Ihimaera_memorial_plaque_in_Dunedin.jpg/220px-Witi_Ihimaera_memorial_plaque_in_Dunedin.jpg)
Ihimaera has been recognised as one of the world's leading indigenous writers, and is seen as a literary legend in New Zealand.[41] Literary scholar and Professor Emeritus at the University of Otago Alistair Fox in The Ship of Dreams: Masculinity in Contemporary New Zealand Fiction (2008) devotes four out of the eleven chapters in the book to the writings of Ihimaera, indicating his importance within the context of New Zealand literature. Fox describes his epic novel The Matriarch as "one of the major and most telling 'monuments' of New Zealand's cultural history in the late twentieth century as far as the situation of Māori in this postcolonial society is concerned," noting that Ihimaera "has remained at the forefront of Māori arts and letters to an unprecedented degree, with an impressive output across a range of genres."[42]
As part of the Auckland Arts Festival 2011, musician directed and produced the stage project "Ihimaera", featuring Ihimaera's lyrics about his life and works, and with performances by New Zealand musicians including , , and Horomona Horo.[43][44] Yates had previously created similar projects as tributes to New Zealand poets James K. Baxter and Hone Tūwhare, and chose Ihimaera for her third project because he was "a writer with a huge body of work that I can give to a number of musicians for them to put their heart and soul to".[44]
Awards and honours[]
In the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours, Ihimaera was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for public services.[45] In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature.[46] In 2009, following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government, he declined redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.[47]
In 2004, Ihimaera received an honorary doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington. He also held a short-term residency in world literature at George Washington University, funded by Fulbright New Zealand.[14] In 2009 he was one of five recipients of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award, for which he received NZ$50,000.[14] In the same year he received the prestigious Māori arts award Te Tohutiketike a Te Waka Toi at the 2009 Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Awards. The award acknowledges the work of individuals who are exemplary in their chosen artistic field. On receiving the award, Ihimaera said it was a recognition of his iwi: "Without them, I would have nothing to write about and there would be no Ihimaera. So this award is for all those ancestors who have made us all the people we are. It is also for the generations to come, to show them that even when you aren't looking, destiny has a job for you to do."[14]
In 2017, Ihimaera was awarded a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. The selection panel described him "as one of New Zealand's most important post-colonial writers, who has consistently proved to be an outstanding storyteller, celebrated as a voice for Māoritanga and a literary leader".[14] In the same year, he was appointed a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on Bastille Day by the French government for his "pivotal role in bringing Maori storytelling to the forefront and enabling its international recognition as a taonga from New Zealand".[14][48]
Personal life[]
Ihimaera met librarian and student Jane Cleghorn at Victoria University, and they married in 1970. They had two daughters, and remain married but do not live together.[4] He came out publicly as gay in 1996, with the publication of Nights in the Gardens of Spain.[7]
In 2004, his nephew Gary Christie Lewis married Lady Davina Windsor, becoming the first Māori to marry into the British royal family.[49]
Selected works[]
Novels, short-story collections and non-fiction[]
- Pounamu Pounamu (short story collection). Auckland: Heinemann, 1972; Auckland: Heinemann, Maori ed., 1986.
- Tangi. Auckland: Heinemann, 1973; Elwood, Victoria: Greenhouse Productions, 1989; Auckland: Secker & Warburg, combined edition with Whanau, 1994.
- Whanau. Auckland: Heinemann, 1974; Auckland: Secker & Warburg, combined edition with Tangi, 1994.
- The New Net Goes Fishing (short story collection). London: Heinemann, 1977.
- The Matriarch. Auckland: Heinemann, 1986.
- Dear Miss Mansfield: a tribute to Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp (short story collection). Auckland: Viking, 1989.
- The Whale Rider (illustrated by ). Auckland : Heinemann, 1987; Auckland; Mandarin, 1992; Auckland: Reed, 1996, 2002.
- Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies. Auckland: Penguin, 1994.
- Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Auckland: Secker & Warburg, 1995.
- Te Kaieke Tohorua (Māori edition of The Whale Rider). Auckland: Reed, 1995.
- Kingfisher Come Home: the complete Maori stories. Auckland : Secker & Warburg, 1995.
- The Dream Swimmer. Auckland: Penguin Books, 1997.
- The Uncle's Story. Auckland: Penguin, 2000.
- Sky Dancer. Auckland: Penguin, 2003.
- Ihimaera: His Best Stories. 2003
- Whanau II: The Anniversary Collection. Auckland: Reed Books, 2004. Also as Band of Angels. London: Robson, 2005.
- The Rope of Man, combining Tangi and its sequel The Return. Auckland: Reed, 2005.
- Ask at the Posts of the House (short story collection). Auckland: Raupo Publishing, 2007.
- The Trowenna Sea. Auckland: Raupo Publishing / Penguin, 2009.
- The Parihaka Woman Auckland: Vintage Random House, 2011.
- The Thrill of Falling (short story collection). Auckland: Vintage Random House, 2011.
- Māori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood (memoir). Auckland: Vintage Random House, 2014.
- Sleeps Standing Moetū (novella, with ). Auckland: Vintage Random House, 2017.
- Native Son: A Writer's Memoir (memoir). Auckland: Vintage Random House, 2019.
Anthologies and other edited works[]
- Into the World of Light, edited by Ihimaera and D.S. Long. Auckland: Heinemann, 1982.
- Te Ao Maramara Volume 1: Whakahuatanga o te rau (Reflections of Reality), selected and edited by Ihimaera, with contributing editors, , Irihapeti Ramsden and D.S. Long. Auckland: Reed, 1992.
- Te Ao Maramara Volume 2: He whakaatanga o te ao (The Reality). Auckland: Reed, 1992.
- Te Ao Maramara Volume 3: Puawaitanga o te korero (The Flowering). Auckland: Reed, 1993
- Regaining Aotearoa: Māori writers speak out, edited by Ihimaera, D.S. Long, Irihapeti Ramsden and Haare Williams. Auckland: Reed, 1993.
- Te Ao Maramara Volume 4: Te ara o te hau (The Path of the Wind). Auckland: Reed books, 1994.
- Vision Aotearoa = Kaupapa New Zealand. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 1994.
- 100 Lovers of Taamaki Makaurau, edited by Ihimaera and Albert Wendt. Auckland: Storytellers Club of Auckland University Students' Association, vol.1 1994.
- Te Ao Maramara Volume 5: Te Torino (The Spiral). Auckland: Reed, 1996.
- Mataora = the living face: contemporary art. Auckland: D. Bateman, 1996.
- Growing up Māori. Auckland: Tandem Press, 1998.
- Where's Waari: a history of the Maori through the short story. Auckland: Reed, 2000.
- Te Ate: Māori art from the East Coast, New Zealand, edited by Ihimaera and , afterword by . Auckland: Reed, 2002.
- Auckland: the city in literature. Auckland: Exisle Publishing, 2003.
- Get on the Waka: best recent Māori fiction. Auckland: Raupo Publishing, 2007.
- Black Marks on the White Page, edited by Ihimaera and Tina Makereti. Auckland: Random House, 2017.
Other works[]
- Maori (pamphlet). Wellington: Govt. Printer, 1975.
- New Zealand Through the Arts: past and present (three lectures reprinted from the Turnbull Library record), Ihimaera along with Toss Woollaston, Allen Curnow. Wellington: Friends of the Turnbull Library, 1982.
- Waituhi: the life of the village (opera), Ihimaera (libretto) and (composer). Wellington: State Opera House, 1984.
- The Clio Legacy (cantata), Ihimaera (libretto) and Dorothy Buchanan. 1991.
- Tanz Der Schwane (opera), Ihimaera (libretto) and Ross Harris (composer). Wellington: Adam Concert Room, Victoria University of Wellington, 1993.
- The Two Taniwha (play). 1994.
- Symphonic Legends, Ihimaera (text) and (composer). 1996.
- Land, Sea and Sky, Ihimaera (text) and (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1994.
- Legendary Land, Ihimaera (text) and Holger Leue (photographs), with a foreword by Keri Hulme. Auckland: Reed, 1994.
- Faces of the Land, Ihimaera (text) and Holger Leue (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1995.
- Beautiful New Zealand, Ihimaera (text) and Holger Leue (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1997.
- Beautiful North Island of New Zealand, Ihimaera (text) and Holger Leue (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1997.
- Beautiful South Island of New Zealand, Ihimaera (text) and Holger Leue (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1997.
- This is New Zealand, Ihimaera and (text) and Holger Leue (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1998.
- On Top Down Under: photographs of unique New Zealanders, Ihimaera (text) and (photographs). Auckland: HarperCollins, 1998.
- New Zealand: first to see the dawn, Ihimaera (text) and Holger Leue (photographs). Auckland: Reed, 1999.
- Woman Far Walking (play). Wellington: Huia, 2000.
- Galileo (opera), Ihimaera (libretto) and John Rimmer (composer). 2002.
- The Wedding (ballet), with choreographer Mark Baldwin and composer Gareth Farr. 2006.
- The Amazing Adventures of Razza the Rat (children's book). Auckland: Reed, 2006.
- Navigating the Stars: Māori Creation Myths. Auckland: Vintage Random House, 2020.
See also[]
- Literature of New Zealand
- List of honorary doctors of Victoria University of Wellington
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Gnanalingam, Brannavan (4 November 2019). "By Way of Circularities: an interview with Witi Ihimaera". Sydney Review of Books. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Millar, Paul (2006). "Ihimaera, Witi". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l Witi Ihimaera at the Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Dekker, Diana (10 June 2013). "Witi Ihimaera's charmed life". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^ Keown, Michelle (Autumn 2013). "Isles of Voices: Scotland in the Indigenous Pacific Literary Imaginary" (PDF). International Journal of Scottish Literature (9): 51–67. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ^ "Past Winners: 1973". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dickson, E. Jane (19 March 2005). "In the deep end". The Times. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "Past Winners: 1974". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Holman, Jeffrey Paparoa. "Page 2. Development of Māori fiction. Story: Māori fiction – ngā tuhinga paki". Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kiriona, Renee (7 June 2008). "Queen's Birthday Honours 2004: Witi Ihimaera". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- ^ "Māori – Short Film (Full Length) – 1981". NZ On Screen Iwi Whitiāhua. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ Millar, Paul (2006). "Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Maori Writing". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^ "Past Winners: 1986". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Ihimaera, Witi". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ "Nielsen BookData New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ "The Whale Rider". Kirkus Reviews. 1 May 2003. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ "Witi Ihimaera's Biography". The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c McLean, Gavin (10 February 1995). "Witi Ihimaera writes his coming out novel". The Dominion Post. p. 7.
- ^ "Past Winners: 1995". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Aldrich, Robert; Wotherspoon, Garry (2002). Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History. Routledge. pp. 204–5. ISBN 978-0-415-29161-3.
- ^ Robinson, Roger (Autumn 1995). "Pure Broadway". New Zealand Review of Books (17). Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ "Nights in the Gardens of Spain". NZ On Screen Iwi Whitiāhua. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ Holmes, Stephanie (23 January 2011). "Nights in the Gardens of Spain". The Sunday Star-Times. p. E26.
- ^ Wattie, Nelson (2006). "Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Maori Writing". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^ "Past Winners: 1997". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ Wood, Briar; Henare, Amiria J. M.; Lander, Maureen; Kanawa, Kahu Te (2003). "Visiting the House of Gifts: The 1998 'Maori' Exhibition at the British Museum". Journal of New Zealand Literature (JNZL) (21): 83–101. ISSN 0112-1227. JSTOR 20112357.
- ^ Nicol Reed, Megan (18 October 2009). "'I write for the New Zealand I wish it to be'". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ Gracewood, Jolisa (2009). "Keeping it real". The Listener. 221 (3627). Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ Black, Joanne (2009). "Other people's words". The Listener. 221 (3629). Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ Savage, Jared (20 November 2009). "Plagiarists 'like drug cheats'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
- ^ "Witi Ihimaera admits plagiarism". New Zealand Herald. 6 November 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
- ^ Harper, Paul (21 September 2010). "Controversial novel not republished". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
- ^ O'Leary, Michael (1 February 2012). "Holding up a Mirror to Empire". Landfall Review Online. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ Reid, Nicholas (18 April 2021). "Easy history lesson from Ihimaera". Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ Jones, Lawrence (5 November 2011). "Ihimaera's latest not what it first seems". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ Larsen, Michael (31 October 2011). "Book Review: The Parihaka Woman". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ "Past Winners: 2016". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Hereaka, Whiti (18 February 2021). "Stars in the Soundshell: Witi Ihimaera's creation myths come to life in Wellington". The Spinoff. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "Navigating the Stars: Maori Creation Myths". Penguin Books New Zealand. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ Hereaka, Whiti (18 February 2021). "Stars in the Soundshell: Witi Ihimaera's creation myths come to life in Wellington". The Spinoff. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ "NZ writers rewarded for their extraordinary legacy". Stuff.co.nz. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ Fox, Alistair (2008). The Ship of Dreams: Masculinity in Contemporary New Zealand Fiction. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press. pp. 14, 133. ISBN 9781877372544.
- ^ "Arts Festival Review: Ihimaera". New Zealand Herald. 5 March 2011. ISSN 1170-0777.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dart, William (25 February 2011). "Dude, you've been an inspiration". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ "No. 50553". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 14 June 1986. p. 33.
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2004". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 7 June 2004. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Young, Audrey (14 August 2009). "Helen Clark loses: Ex-Labour MP takes title". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ "Whale Rider author Witi Ihimaera received French honours alongside war veterans". Stuff.co.nz. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ Chapman, Paul; Davies, Caroline (27 July 2004). "A palace wedding for Lady Davina and her sheep-shearing Maori surfer". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
External links[]
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- Māori-language biography, including list of works
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