Who Is Witi Ihimaera?

Witi Ihimaera is an author from New Zealand who is of Maori descent. He is the first author of Maori origin to have published both a novel and short story collection.

Witi Ihimaera was a diplomat at the New Zealand Ministry of foreign Affairs, and held posts in New York and Canberra amongst other cities. Throughout this time, he built up his writing career which has an outstanding amount of publications.

The most famous novel by Witi Ihimaera is "The whale rider" which was also made into an award winning film of the same name. He also has a vast collection of other novels, non fiction essays, short story collections, a play and even a children's book "The Little Kowhai Tree" to date.

Witi Ihimaera focuses on Maori culture in modern New Zealand, looking at the contemporary problems faced. He was awarded with the title of Distinguished Companion in the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contributions to literature.

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