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Profile
Witi Ihimaera, the acclaimed author of The Whale Rider and many
other works, was the first Māori writer to publish both a novel and a short
story collection. His writing is often concerned with Māori themes and
subjects, and it enriches and expands wider New Zealand literature.
Selected published works
Pounamu Pounamu, 1972; Tangi, 1973, Wattie Book of the Year Award; The Matriarch,
1986, Wattie Book of the Year Award; The Whale Rider, 1987, National
Book Data New Zealand Booksellers’ Choice Award; Bulibasha: King of
the Gypsies, 1994, Montana New Zealand Book Award; Ihimaera: His Best Stories, 2003; Whanau II, 2004; The Rope of Man, 2005.
Biography
Witi Ihimaera (full name Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler) was born in 1944
in Gisborne and raised in his ancestral Māori community. Both the Waituhi
valley and his family background inform his writing although not in a strictly
autobiographical sense.
Ihimaera worked for a time as a journalist and postman while completing a university
degree. His first book, Pounamu Pounamu (1970), attracted the attention
of then Prime Minister Norman Kirk and he was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. He spent time abroad in New Zealand’s diplomatic service, notably
in Australia and the United States.
Ihimaera’s work is firmly rooted in the Māori world. As Māori
society has, over time, become increasingly politicised and assertive, so too
has Ihimaera’s writing. He has described his fiction’s purpose as
“to establish and describe the emotional landscape of the Māori people”.
In the late 1970s, however, he decided to stop writing, concerned that his portrayal
of the Māori world was “out of date”.
Ihimaera returned to print in 1986 with the award-winning The Matriarch
and, a year later, published The Whale Rider. In 2003, this story became
the acclaimed New Zealand film Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro.
The success of Whale Rider has led to a huge increase in demand for
Ihimaera’s work all over the world, including the sale of all his backlist
books to a British publisher. Pre-production of a film based on his novel Bulibasha:
King of the Gypsies gets underway in 2006.
Ihimaera’s more recent works include Nights in the Gardens of Spain
(1996), a ‘gay novel’ in which he addresses his own sexuality, The
Dream Swimmer (1997, a sequel to The Matriarch), The Uncle’s
Story (2000) and Sky Dancer (2003). In Whanau II (Reed
Publishing), the author daringly revisits the characters he first wrote about
30 years earlier, creating a new “up-to-date” novel out of the framework
of the old. Ihimaera has also written short stories, plays and librettos, and
has edited anthologies, including the seminal collection of Māori fiction,
Into the World of Light (1982).
In 1991, he was awarded a Scholarship in Letters and in 1993 was the Katherine
Mansfield Memorial Fellow in Menton, France. He has also been awarded an Honorary
Doctorate in Letters by Victoria University of Wellington.
Ihimaera is a licensed user of toi iho™, a registered trademark denoting
authenticity and quality of Māori arts.
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