Skip to main content

Witi Ihimaera: A Life in Writing

Witi Ihimaera: A Life in Writing

Witi has won numerous awards for his writing in the categories of short fiction and full-length novel, starting with the publication of the Pounamu Pounamu short story collection (1970), which was followed by another collection of short works, the “overtly political” The New Net Goes Fishing (1977).

His list of full-length novels is impressive, beginning with Tangi (1973) and Whanau (1974). The Matriarch (1986) is complemented with a sequel, The Dream Swimmer (1997). While in the United States, Witi wrote Dear Miss Mansfield (1989), after which came Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies (1994). Witi took a daring turn with Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1996), his first gay-themed novel. A focus on relationships and male sexuality continues in The Uncle's Story (2000). Witi’s most recent work is The Rope of Man (2005).

In Ihimaera: His Best Stories, the Anniversary Collection (2003), Witi offers a personal choice of stories accompanied by author notes. Daringly, Witi re-wrote some of his earlier novels for Whanau II: The Anniversary Collection (2004).

The novella “The Halcyon Summer” appears in Nine New Zealand Novellas, edited by Peter Simpson (2005). This is a companion volume to the bestselling Seven New Zealand Novellas.

Both The Whale Rider (1987) and The Little Kowhai Tree (2002) are written for young readers, the latter illustrated by Henry Campbell. A book I am obviously curious about is Sky Dancer (2003), which looks at a legendary battle between land birds and sea birds.

Witi is also an opera lover, which perhaps helped tremendously in his writing as the librettist for an opera by Ross Harris based on Whanau. In this he has joined the ranks of other major literary figures who have taken turns as librettists, including John Williams and David Henry Hwang.

As a Burns Fellow in 1975, Witi began editing the anthology Into the World of Light (1982), the precursor to the extensive, five-volume, Te Ao Marama series.

There is a substantial body of critical, biographical and bibliographical work about Ihimaera. Among his autobiographical articles, the ones in WLWE, Vol. 14, 1975; Tihe Mauri Ora (1978); New Zealand Through the Arts: Past and Present (1982); and Through the Looking Glass (1988) are useful.

Two extremely good interviews are by J.B. Beston in WLWE, Vol. 16, 1977, and Mark Williams in In the Same Room (1992). Book-length studies include Richard Corballis and Simon Garrett’s Introducing Witi Ihimaera (1984) and Umelo Ojinmah’s Witi Ihimaera: A Changing Vision (1993), which includes a useful bibliography.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

China Arrests Anti-Poverty Activists

At times it feels hopeless to imagine that the Chinese government will ever develop a sense of universal rights or even common decency. More proof of this from the following Associated Press article printed in the local Taipei Times newspaper on Sunday, February 08, 2009, Page 1. Days before China's human rights record comes under scrutiny before a UN panel, the government's grip on dissent seems as firm as ever. Government critics have been rounded up and some imprisoned on vaguely defined state security charges. Corruption whistleblowers have been bundled away, while discussion of sensitive political and social topics on the Internet remains tightly policed. On Friday, officers stationed outside a government building in Beijing took away at least eight people — members of a loosely organized group of 30 who had traveled to the capital from around the country seeking redress for various problems, almost all of them involving local corruption. One member of the group, Li Fengx...

"Invisible Nation" and the Indivisibility Difference

Invisible Nation will probably disappoint Taiwan audiences, largely because the documentary was produced for is intended for international audiences, though the film is pragmatically “for Taiwan.” Completed in 2023 and made available to the global documentary film circuit last year, Invisible Nation finally found its way to movie screens throughout Taiwan on June 13, 2025 — a Friday the 13 th release, to be precise.  Produced and directed by Vanessa Hope , Invisible Nation was filmed with the cooperation and encouragement of Taiwan’s first democratically elected female president, Tsai Ying-wen (whose Administration of the Republic of China spanned two terms, 2016-2024). Hope could easily be understood as something of a “China hand,” though she would probably not be comfortable with the label. Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Hope had been a scholar of international studies for the Council on Foreign Relations in her hometown of New York City. She also earned a doctorate from C...

Two Jackies is One Too Many

The two Jackies show their nervousness after a big thunderstorm. Yes, this Adoga has a couple of Indonesian myna birds, one of which is threatening to soil the keyboards even as we "speak." Problem is, only one of the birds is friendly enough to be a good pet, so it looks like in a couple of weeks the larger and more unfriendly bird will be returned to his original owner in Pingtung. Hand-raised, these birds are faithful to their "parents." I've seen them follow my friend around as he worked in his yard outside his house. He whistles to call them when they stray, and they return like well-trained dogs. He gave me these two "brothers," both of whom are n amed Jackie. Unfortunately, the Jackies are terribly aggressive to my other home-roaming pets, and today's attack upon my sparrow (rescued from a certain death as a hatchling kicked out of the nest) and bulbul (a trade from the bird breeder who couldn't keep my ailing baby dove alive) was especi...