Ihimaera, Witi

Witi Ihimaera (2012)

Sir Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler
(1944- )

Witi Ihimaera, a multi-award-winning New Zealand author, was the first Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories (Pounamu Pounamu, 1972), as well as the first published Māori novelist (Tangi, 1973). He has gone on to write another dozen novels, including substantially revised versions of earlier works, as well as many collections of stories.

This introduction to vol. 3 of the five-volume Te Ao Mārama series (1992-96), reveals something of the cultural agenda behind his own work and that of many of his contemporaries.

Select Bibliography:

Novels:


1. Tangi (1973)


2. Whanau (1974)


3. The Matriarch (1986)


4. The Whale Rider (1987)


5. Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies (1994)


6. Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1995)


7. The Dream Swimmer (1997)


8. Woman Far Walking (2000)


9. The Uncle's Story (2000)


10. Sky Dancer (2004)


11. Whanau II (2004)


12. The Rope of Man: Tangi & The Return (2005)


13. Band of Angels (2005)


14. The Trowenna Sea (2009)


15. The Parihaka Woman (2011)

Short story collections:


16. Pounamu, Pounamu (1972)


17. The New Net Goes Fishing (1977)


18. Dear Miss Mansfield: A Tribute to Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp (1989)


19. Ihimaera: His Best Stories, the Anniversary Collection (2003)


20. Kingfisher Come Home: The Complete Maori Stories (2005)


21. The Rope of Man (2005)


22. Ask at the Posts of the House (2008)


23. Witi Ihimaera: His Best Stories (2009)


24. The Thrill of Falling (2012)

Autobiography:


25. Māori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood (2014)

Edited:


26. Into the World of Light (1982)


27. [with Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden & D. S. Long]: Te Ao Mārama. 5 vols (1992-96)

Homepages & Online Information:

NZ Book Council entry

Wikipedia entry

Dunedin Writers Walk (2016)