Is witi ihimaera still alive

PERSONAL: Born February 7, 1944, in Gisborne, New Zealand; son of Tame Czar, Jr. (a farmer) and Julia (Keelan) Ihimaera; married Jane Cleghorn, May 9, 1970; children: Jessica Kiri, Olivia Ata. Ethnicity: "Maori." Education: Attended University of Auckland, 1962-66; Victoria University of Wellington, B.A., 1970.

ADDRESSES: Home—2 Bella Vista Rd., Herne Bay, Auckland, New Zealand.

CAREER: Author. Post Office, Headquarters, Wellington, New Zealand, postman, 1969-72; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wellington, New Zealand, diplomatic officer and writer, 1973-89; Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand, lecturer in the English department, 1990—. Member of Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand.

MEMBER: International PEN, Maori Writers and Artists Society of New Zealand.

AWARDS, HONORS: Wattie Award, 1974, for Tangi, and 1986, for The Matriarch; Burns Fellow at University of Otago, 1975; Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellow, 1993.

WRITINGS:

Pounamu, Pounamu (short stories; title means "Green-stone, Greenstone"; also see below), Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1972.

Tangi (novel; title means "Mourning"), Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1973.

Whanau (novel; title means "Family"), Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1974.

Maori (nonfiction), New Zealand Government Printer (Wellington, New Zealand), 1975.

The New Net Goes Fishing (short stories; also see below), Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1977.

The Matriarch, Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1986.

Dear Miss Mansfield: A Tribute to Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1987, Viking (New York, NY), 1989.

The Whale Rider, illustrated by John Hovell, Mandarin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1992, reprinted with movie stills, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 2002, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2003.

Land, Sea, and Sky, with photographs by Holger Leue, Reed Books (Auckland, New Zealand), 1994.

Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies, Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1994.

The Legendary Land, photographed by Holger Leue, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 1994.

Kingfisher Come Home: The Complete Maori Stories, Secker & Warburg (Auckland, New Zealand), 1995.

Aotearoa = New Zealand: Faces of the Land, with photographs by Holger Leue, Reed Books (Auckland, New Zealand), 1995.

Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Secker & Warburg (Auckland, New Zealand), 1995.

Kingfisher Come Home: The Complete Maori Stories (contains Pounamu, Pounamu and The New Net Goes Fishing), Secker & Warburg (Auckland, New Zealand), 1995.

The Kaieke Tohora, Reed Books (Auckland, New Zealand), 1995.

The Dream Swimmer (sequel to The Matriarch), Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1997.

(With Tim Plant) New Zealand: Land of Adventure, photographed by Holger Leue, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 1997.

On Top/Down Under, photographed by Sally Tagg, HarperCollins (Auckland, New Zealand), 1998.

(With Tim Plant) This Is New Zealand, photographed by Holger Leue, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 1998.

New Zealand: First to See Dawn, photographed by Holger Leue, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 1999.

The Uncle's Story, University of Hawaii Press (Honolulu, HI), 2000.

Woman Far Walking (play), Huia (Wellington, New Zealand), 2000.

Out There: Portraits of the Hero Parade, photographed by Murray Savidan, Savidan Productions (Auckland, New Zealand), 2001.

The Little Kowhai Tree (for children), illustrated by Henry Campbell, Huia (Wellington, New Zealand), 2002.

Ihimaera: His Best Stories, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 2003.

Sky Dancer, Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 2003.

Also author of short stories, including "Big Brother, Little Sister" and "Truth of the Matter." Contributor of lecture to New Zealand through the Arts: Past and Present, Friends of Turnbull Library (Wellington, New Zealand), 1982.

editor

(With D. S. Long) Into the World of Light (collection of contemporary Maori writing), Heinemann (Exeter, NH), 1982.

Te Ao Marama: Contemporary Maori Writing, five volumes, Reed Books (Auckland, New Zealand), 1992-96.

Vision Aotearoa: Kaupapa New Zealand, Bridget Williams (Wellington, New Zealand), 1994.

(Coeditor) Mataora: The Living Face: Contemporary Maori Art, D. Bateman (Auckland, New Zealand), 1996.

Growing Up Maori, Tandem Press (Auckland, New Zealand), 1998.

Where's Waari? A History of the Maori through the Short Story, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 2000.

(With Ngarino Ellis) Te Ata: Maori Art from the East Coast, New Zealand, Reed (Auckland, New Zealand), 2002.

Auckland: The City in Literature, Exisle (Auckland, New Zealand), 2003.

ADAPTATIONS: "Big Brother, Little Sister" was adapted to video by Aardvark Films (New Zealand), 1976; "Truth of the Matter" was adapted to video as Against the Lights by Sam Pillsbury Film Productions (New Zealand), 1980; The Whale Rider was made into a motion picture of the same name, written and directed by Niki Caro, by South Pacific Pictures (Auckland, New Zealand), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:Witi Ihimaera "has the distinction of being the first Maori writer to publish both a book of short stories and a novel," wrote a contributor on the New Zealand Book Council Web site. The Maori people were the native culture in New Zealand before the Europeans arrived. Ihimaera has written many books for adults, as well as some for children and young adults, that help to illuminate the world of the Maori.

Perhaps Ihimaera's most famous children's book is The Whale Rider, written in three weeks in New York and on Cape Cod. It relates the story of a Maori girl, her relationship with a whale, and how that relationship saves her village. The story is told from the viewpoint of her uncle and of the whales. Originally written in 1987, the book gained prominence in 2003, with the worldwide release of an award-winning movie version. Reviewing the 2003 edition, A Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote, "Dazzling ocean descriptions from the whales' perspective highlight the poetic writing," while Booklist's Gillian Engberg called it "a haunting story." Calling the work "a poetic blend of reality and myth," School Library Journal critic Susan Oliver found The Whale Rider "a tale rich in intense drama and sociological and cultural information."

Ihimaera once said, "There are two landscapes to New Zealand, the Maori and the Pakeha (European). I began writing and continue writing to ensure that the Maori landscape of New Zealand is taken into account. I am Maori. I write about Maori people. They are my commitment—and I am committed not only in my writing, but also in my career and my whole life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Contemporary Novelists, 7th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2001.

periodicals

Booklist, July, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of The Whale Rider, p. 1881.

Choice, June, 1990, review of Dear Miss Mansfield: A Tribute to Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, p. 1678.

Contemporary Pacific, spring, 1998, Paul Lyons, review of Nights in the Gardens of Spain, p. 280.

Encounter, May, 1987, Michael Thorpe, review of The Matriarch, p. 45.

Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, January-February, 2003, Margaret Meklin, "A Maori Writer in Two Worlds," p. 30.

Journal of Commonwealth Literature, spring, 1999, Juniper Ellis, interview with Witi Ihimaera, p. 169.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1989, review of Dear Miss Mansfield, p. 1698; May 1, 2003, review of The Whale Rider, p. 678.

Landfall, November, 1998, Peter Beatson, review of The Dream Swimmer, p. 308.

London Review of Books, December 18, 1986, review of The Matriarch, p. 20.

Modern Fiction Studies, winter, 1990, review of The Matriarch, pp. 483-498.

Publishers Weekly, December 8, 1989, review of Dear Miss Mansfield, p. 42.

School Library Journal, September, 2003, Susan Oliver, review of The Whale Rider, p. 214.

Times Literary Supplement, February 9, 1973, review of Pounamu, Pounamu, p. 141; July 12, 1974, review of Tangi, p. 741; March 7, 1975, Martha Miller, review of Whanau, p. 260.

World Literature Today, spring, 1978, Charles R. Larson, review of The New Net Goes Fishing, p. 247; autumn, 1978, Norman Simms, review of The New Net Goes Fishing, p. 696; spring, 1987, Reed Way Daenbrock, review of The Matriarch, p. 351.

online

New Zealand Book Council Web site, (September 23, 2003), biographical information on Ihimaera.*