Witi ihimaera family christian

New Zealand writer (born )

Witi Tame Ihimaera-SmilerDCNZM QSM (; born 7 February ) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literature.

He was the first Māori writer to publish a collection of short stories, with Pounamu, Pounamu (), and the first to publish a novel, with Tangi (). After his early works, he took a ten-year break from writing, during which he focused on editing an anthology of Māori writing in English.

Witi ihimaera family christian

From the late s onwards, Ihimaera wrote prolifically. In his novels, plays, short stories and opera librettos, he examines contemporary Māori culture, legends and history, and the impacts of colonisation in New Zealand.

He has said that "Māori culture is the taonga, the treasure vault from which I source my inspiration".^[1] His novel The Whale Rider is his best-known work, read widely by c